Darkness in a golden heart
by pokegirl1005
Summary: Enter Valerie Weasley, twin to Ginny Weasley. She lives a simple life at home, at school, just doing everything that's expected of a Weasley. This, however, was just a mirage of what Valerie actually wants. Without her parents to directly influence her, she makes decisions that will indirectly lead to "him"...
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:**

This story involves a lot, and I mean a LOT of storysetting, such as getting through Hogwarts, meeting people, loving one and hating the other, learning and... I guess you get the picture. If you dislike, well, have a good day! If you want to read, however, you are more than welcome, and I hope you'll enjoy my story.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. You've got two healthy girls.", a nurse said, and handed the two girls in her arms to the panting woman in the hospital bed, who on her turn started to breastfeed them.<p>

"Look Arthur..." The woman breathed out. "Aren't they beautiful?"

The man on her side answered: "They are, Molly, and what luck to have twins again."

The woman in bed listened and smiled with satisfaction while focusing on the two children in her arms. "What should we call them, Arthur?"

The man, Arthur, thought for a moment, and replied: "What about... Ginevra?"

"... That could work, though we need names for the both of them, Arthur."

"Well, Molly, these are the first two girls our family has had with in generations. Give me a bit of time to think..."

"... What about Valerie?"

"... A name for a strong, brave and healthy girl... "

"I like this name, Arthur, and it would work well with Ginevra's name's meaning "fair maiden". One with a name for the outside, one for the inside..."

"Ginevra being the body, and Valerie the mind..."

"Exactly, Arthur."

Arthur took hold of one of the babies, smiled, and told it, while looking in it's eyes: "Welcome to the family, Ginevra Molly Weasley."

Molly just laughed exhaustedly and looked at the other child. "Welcome, Valerie Cedrella Weasley."

* * *

><p>"Whewe is my doww?!"<p>

Exactly three years later, Little Ginevra was crying, after just having opened her birthday presents and finding out that her favorite doll was gone from the place she'd put it. Because of this, most of the family sitting around her went and searched for Ginny's doll, while Molly stayed back to try and soothe her daughter.

Meanwhile, a little girl, completely similar to Ginny, who was crying still crying, walked over to the barn, so she could hide something very specific. She almost reached the barn, when suddenly a pair of arms grabbed her and lifted her off the ground.

"What are you doing out here, Valerie?"

"I'm pwaying, daddy."

"With that doll?"

"Yes, daddy."

"But, isn't that your sister's doll?"

"... Yes, daddy..."

"Your sister is very sad without her doll, you know that, right?"

"Ginny sad?"

"Yes, now, why don't you go apologize, Valerie?"

"... owkay daddy..."

The man let the little girl out of his arms, and said little girl ran back to the house. Once inside, she slowly walked over to Ginny, who was crying in her mother's embrace, and held out the doll to her.

" 'm sowwy, Ginny. I 'iked youw doww, I wanted to pway with it."

Ginny, upon seeing the doll, beamed and took it, holding it close and repeating: "Don't wowwy doww, I wiww pwotect yoe."

Molly, seeing this, stroked Valerie's hair a couple of times and with a: "Well done", and left for the kitchen to make dinner. Valerie, on her part, just went up to the room she shared with Ginny, took a bit of paper and a pen, sat down behind the shared desk, and started drawing.

* * *

><p>"Mom, when can we go to Hogwarts?"<p>

The Weasley family just came back home from bringing Bill, Charlie and Percy to the Hogwarts Express. A certain little red haired girl, now the age of seven, asked said question.

"Ginny, dear, you ask this question every year, and you know what the answer is. You'll go once you reach the age of eleven."

"But, Mom, why can't I go earlier?"

"Because there are rules to follow, and these are for your own good."

"But mom..."

"Ginny, you can't go now, you can go in four years. This discussion is over."

"...Okay..."

The little girl went outside with her three brothers, while Valerie went to her room, where she took some paper, a few pencils, and started drawing. About six hours later, her mother's voice boomed through the house with the word: "DINNER!". Because of this, seven-year old Valerie stood up from the desk, put her drawing in a bag that Bill put a disillusionment charm on for her, put said bag back underneath her bed, and went downstairs.

Once she reached the ground floor, the sound of happy conversations made her smile, and she happily sat down to eat and talk with her family.

* * *

><p>Valerie, at the age of ten, was busy with drawing again, when suddenly the door to her room opened and her mother stood in the opening.<p>

"Valerie, are you sure you're not coming with us to say goodbye to your brothers?"

"Yes, mum, I'm sure."

"Very well, I'll come and greet you once we're back."

Valerie looked up at her mother. "Of course, mom."

Molly smiled a slightly sad smile, but still hugged her daughter and left the room with a simple: "Bye."

Once her mother was out of earshot, Valerie stood up out of her seat and walked over to the window, watching as Fred, George, Percy and Ron all walked away happily, carrying their baggage, with Ginny and her mother walking in front of them. Suddenly, Percy turned around and looked at the house, saw Valerie and waved at her, which she returned, and the boy turned around and walked on. Valerie smiled sadly and, after a while of just staring at the ground after they were out of view, she walked up to the desk again, and looked at her drawing: A red snake, slithering up and around a tree.

The red-haired girl picked up her drawing and sat down on her bed. She let her mind run for a little while and then decided to take a nap after putting her new creation away.

* * *

><p>Valerie was asleep on a simple Monday morning, completely unaware of the things that happened last night, or what was currently happening downstairs...<p>

"Val, Val!"

Ginny was shaking her twin sister awake, which the second redhead did not appreciate. The only response the slightly distraught girl got was a pillow in her face, although she did manage to awaken the owner of said pillow. With a slight moan, the girl sat up and stretched her arms.

"Val! Harry Potter is downstairs, what clothes should I put on?!"

"Gin, just go downstairs in your nightdress."

"No, that's just weird!"

"I'm going downstairs." Valerie got up and went towards the door separating their room from the rest of the house, but Ginny took hold of her arm before she could open it.

"You can't just go downstairs in your nightdress when Harry Potter is there!"

"Why not, Gin?" By now, Valerie started to get slightly agitated.

"Be-Because... I... umm..."

"Great reasoning, Gin, but I'm hungry, so I'm going downstairs for breakfast." At this point, Valerie pulled her arm away from Ginny's hold and started descending the stairs, leaving behind a worried twin sister.

"Morning everyone."

Fred and George immediately looked up at the sound of Valerie's voice and one of them said: "Hey Gin, I thought you just ran up the stairs in a different nightdress."

On this, the other twin replied: "Yes Gin, how did you change that fast?

Valerie, on her turn, just walked past Fred and George, hitting them on their heads weakly and sat down next to one of them, across from the raven haired boy who was looking at her rather oddly.

"Is something wrong?"

The boy flinched slightly, as if caught doing something bad, but still asked: "How come you're okay with me being here now, when you ran away before?"

Valerie stood and held out her hand for the boy to grab, which took him a while, but once he did, she said: "I'm Valerie, Valerie Weasley, twin sister to Ginevra Weasley, and you are Harry Potter, I'm guessing?"

The boy blushed upon realizing this girl and the previous one were, in fact, not the same person, and nodded to answer the question.

Valerie let go of his hand, sat back down, started piling food on her plate, and began telling Fred and George not to mess with someone who's new here. Once she was done with both things, she took her plate to the sink and went upstairs to change.

When she opened the door to her room, she immediately saw all her clothes lying everywhere, with Ginny in the middle trying on more clothes.

"Ginny, why are my clothes covering the floor?" Hearing someone speak, Ginny looked up at said person and smiled sheepishly once she saw who was talking.

"Sorry Val, I was just..."

Valerie just sighed and put some of the clothes on her bed. "Gin, just put some clothes on and go downstairs, I'll clean this up."

Ginny nodded and left the room after a few minutes. Valerie sighed once more, then started to work on taking the clothes off the floor, folding them and putting them away in the closets.

Having finished, she stretched her arms, and fell back so she was partially lying on the bed. She sighed and closed her eyes for a few minutes, taking a break from cleaning up the room.

"Are you sure she's in here, George?"

The door creaked open. "I am, Fred. There's your proof."

Valerie opened one eye and looked at them tiredly, but after a second she closed it again.

"It seems like our little sister is a bit tired, doesn't it, George?

"It does seem like that, Fred."

"I think she needs something-"

"-To wake her up!" Once George spoke this out loud, Both of the twins jumped on top of Valerie, who let out a groan, started struggling to get away from underneath her brothers, but it was to no avail. Both of the redheads on top of her started laughing, while Valerie was still trying to get them off of her, though now with a smile.

"Is little sissy not strong enough to get us off?"

Valerie groaned a bit more before becoming a bit calmer. "You guys are the worst."

The left twin started smiling a big smile. "That's why you love us, isn't it Vally?"

"Don't call me that!" Valerie tried to slap her brothers, but she wasn't quick enough. Both of the duo had one of her hands pinned down respectively, and now she was utterly helpless.

"Look Fred, we're stronger than her!"

"It's because of our teamwork!" Both brothers high fived each other with the hands they weren't using in pinning down their sister and they smiled down at her with a satisfied grin.

"You guys win because you're not playing fair! It's one eleven-year old girl against two fourteen-year old boys!"

At this point the door creaked open and her mother entered the frame, who looked slightly surprised at the position three of her children were in, two of whom she didn't expect in this room.

Both the twins greeted their mother with a quick: "Hi, mom." While Valerie's eyes were practically begging her mother to help her get her brothers off of her.

"Valerie, You were in charge of helping me with dinner, weren't you?"

Valerie, hearing this, said: "I can't do that with my brothers on top of me."

Her mother sighed. "Go to your room, Fred, George."


	2. Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

About a week or two later, the Weasley family, with the addition of Harry, was planning on going to diagon alley to buy new school supplies.

"VALERIE! COME DOWN HERE!"

Valerie was still in her room, making sure her drawings were hidden well, when she heard her mother shout.

"I'm coming, mum!"

The eleven-year old redhead made sure her bag with drawings was hidden well one more time, and when she saw that it was indeed hidden and she didn't need to worry, she went downstairs.

Her mother was the only one who was still waiting for her. "Ah, Valerie, there you are! Ginevra has already gone ahead. Come, dear. Diagon Alley!" She yelled as she walked into the fireplace, throwing down floo powder.

Valerie rolled her eyes, took a handful of floo powder, walked into the fireplace and threw the powder down in the fireplace, yelling "Diagon Alley!"

She reappeared in a fireplace at the leaky cauldron, where she was met by a group of redheads. Her father, Percy, Fred, George and Ron were there... She looked around the room.

"Where are Harry, Ginny and Mum?"

Her father was the first to answer: "Well, Harry probably went out a wrong fireplace, so your mother and Ginny are looking for him."

"Oh." Was all the little redhead was able to say on the subject.

Her father nodded. "So, we should also go and search for him."

Valerie nodded and they went through the brick archway into diagon alley, searching for Harry Potter.

* * *

><p>"Ah, there he is!"<p>

The whole group of redheads was sprinting to the dark haired boy they had been searching for.

The father of the family was least in shape, and panted: "Harry, we hoped you'd only gone one grate too far. Molly's frantic, she's coming now."

"Where did you come out?" Ron asked.

The giant man next to Harry, who Valerie hadn't even noticed yet, answered: "Knockturn Alley."

"Excellent." said Fred and George together.

"We've never been allowed in." said Ron enviously.

By this point Valerie was lost in thought. Knockturn Alley. The place for the dark wizards to do their shopping, right? What kind of shops would be in there? What objects could they sell there that are different from the things in Diagon Alley? Valerie was thinking about all the drawing she could do about such shops and she grinned. She vaguely noticed her mother coming back with Ginny and her being overly affectionate towards couldn't clearly remember they had gone into Gringotts either, and though she always enjoyed riding the carts to their vault, she didn't care enough to stop her imagining.

"Valerie!"

The redheaded girl looked up at her mother who had just called her out to reality.

"What's wrong, mum?"

"We're going to buy your and Ginny's robes, dear."

"Oh, okay."

And so they set off, everyone going in a different direction. Percy walked away muttering about a new quill. Fred and George went over to their friend. Harry, Ron and that other, frizzy-haired girl (seriously, was she here the whole time?) went somewhere... And dad was able to get the girl's parents to have a drink with him.

The three females reached the secondhand robe shop and started searching for the right sizes.

Once done, the three set out to Flourish and Blotts, where everyone said they'd meet up, stood in line to meet Gilderoy Lockhart, and Valerie began getting lost in thought again. Would all the buildings just be grey, black or brown, or would there be some color added into the mix? What kind of people would shop there?

Intense smoke made her cough and snapped her thoughts back to reality. She literally couldn't see anything with this smoke... Sheesh, how long was this stuff going to stay?

Ah, It was slowly lessening. Thank the gods this was magical smoke. There, she could see again. It seemed like Lockhart was giving Harry a one-armed hug, while speaking:

"What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge-. He had no idea that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd filling the bookstore was cheering and clapping when this was said, while Valerie just rolled her eyes and saw Harry giving Ginny his books, though he seemed startled at once and looked angrily at the blond boy in front of him (hmmm... Almost white hair... grey eyes... probably a Malfoy, right?) Seeing this, Valerie made her way over to the two of them (three counting Ginny) so she'd be able to hear what the conversation between the two boys that appeared to be enemies. And although she wanted to get there fast, she wanted to do it a bit stealthily, so she wouldn't have to be involved in the conversation if she wasn't noticed.

"Leave him alone, he didn't want that!" Said Ginny to the blond (Wow, the first time she's spoken in front of Harry...). She was glaring at the boy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled the Malfoy kid. Valerie's hand flew to her mouth to keep herself from laughing, though it didn't work, because, when Ginny's face went as red as a tomato, our little redhead doubled over for a few seconds. Lucky for her that there was enough noise in the store to drown her laugh enough so nobody could hear. Though, because of her laughing, she missed out on some of the conversation. At this point, Harry and the frizzy-haired girl were tugging on Ron's jacket to keep him away from the Malfoy kid.

"Ron!" The father, struggling with his twin sons, came over to his other son. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"well, well, well- Arthur Weasley." Valerie looked over to the voice to see a man with the same blond hair as the boy, whose shoulder he covered with his hand, though his hair was longer, and his features more defined.

"Lucius" came the response of a cold looking father.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than Ginny just now. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to the parents of the frizzy-haired girl (I should at least learn her name...), who were watching uneasily. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower-"

The red haired man threw himself at the blonde, knocking him over into a bookshelf. Valerie turned her head away from the violence and ran outdoors.

Once outdoors, Valerie was breathing quick and her heart was beating fast. She went over and sat on the bench just a little bit away from the entrance to Flourish and Blotts.

She sighed "Why did that have to escalate so fast? Is it worked up frustration from the office, because I don't think that was worth ruining the shop over..."

"Well, your father isn't the smartest, girl."

The seemingly answering woman was standing a few feet to Valerie's right, looking at the shop across the street, as if she hadn't noticed the girl sitting down a few paces from her. She seemed to have similar blond hair to the two Malfoys just now and she looked like she was smelling something terrible, tilting her head upwards and scrunching her nose.

"... I guess you're right in certain ways." The woman looked surprised at this statement, and although her demeanor changed back to her cold, seemingly smelling something bad, attitude, she did look over at Valerie, and with less of a look as if she was the dirt on her shoes.

"I would have expected you to defend your family, not agree with me."

"Well, I guess it's to be expected."

Although Valerie could almost sense the need for more information, the older woman didn't ask.

"What's your name, girl?"

"I'm Valerie. And you're... Mrs. Malfoy?"

The woman seemed to have a warmer look in her eyes when she answered, looking at the red haired girl.

"I am indeed. It's good to meet you, Valerie."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Malfoy." Valerie smiled warmly at the woman while she said this, and the woman turned her face, showing suppressed surprise, back towards the entrance to Flourish and Blotts, where the other two quite angry blonds seemed to appear.

"Valerie, please act as if we have not had any conversation whatsoever."

The eleven-year old girl sitting on the bench just looked to the entrance of the shop, almost without blinking, and in a way just looking past the two blonds approaching the woman she'd just spoken to. And, although she was looking at Flourish and Blotts intently, she was actually focusing on the trio of blonds now next to her.

"Oh, Lucius, look at your lip."

"Narcissa, it's nothing, let's go home." A male voice was saying, presumably Mr. Malfoy.

"Those stupid blood-traitors." A slightly high pitched voice said, probably the kid.

"Now, now, Draco, don't say such words in public. Keep up the good image."

"Yes, mother."

The trio walked past the bench Valerie was sitting on, and, in the corner of her eye, she saw the kid, Draco, looking surprised at her being there. Next, the man walked past, acting as if he didn't notice her. Next though, was Mrs. Malfoy, and though she did the same as her husband, she let something fall on the ground in front of her.

Once the group of high classed blonds disappeared through apparition, our little redhead slowly bent down and grabbed whatever Mrs. Malfoy dropped. It was a small bag, which seemed to be almost weightless, with a note on it.

_Well Valerie,_

_You seem to not have too much money to your name, so let me just give you this._

_Though, promise me two things:_

_One, don't open this until after you're sure you're alone. I don't want my reputation being taken from me because of an eleven-year old kid._

_Second, please use this for something useful. I'm assuming you can guess what I think of as useful._

_Good luck, child._

It's expected that Valerie was incredibly confused, surprised, though also a bit happy. She tucked away the small bag into one of the pockets on her jacket just in time, because when she looked up, her family was coming out of the door of Flourish and Blotts.

"Come on Valerie, we're going home." Her dad stomped past angrily.

So they went home. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley were both angry and slightly disappointed, though both in different ways. Percy was pleased with his purchases, Fred and George seemed to have the best time of their life, Harry and Ron were slipping between being pleased with their purchases and being annoyed at Lockhart and the Malfoy kid, and Ginny was ecstatic about getting the Lockhart books from Harry.

But Valerie, she was extremely pleased once she took a look inside the small bag she got.


	3. Chapter 2: The train ride

**AN**

Anna, thank god for google translate. Also, thank you for the portugese! It makes me happy to hear someone being happy in another country.

Mary, thanks to you as well! You made me happy!

Both of you just made me want to publish some more, so here you go! ; )

**AN**

* * *

><p>Today was the day Valerie was leaving. September the first. First day of Hogwarts. She was almost jumping through the house happily. She was humming songs, and the evening before, when she was packing, she was dancing. She was extremely happy.<p>

And then they tried to leave.

First, George forgot his box of Filibuster fireworks. Then, five minutes later, Fred forgot his broom, and then to top it off, Ginny forgot her "diary" (since when does she use a diary anyway?). And so they were running extremely late, which annoyed our little redhead quite a bit.

Once they reached the barrier to platform nine and three-quarters, they only had five minutes left.

"Percy first." said mother, looking at the clock uncomfortably.

Once Percy was through, Mr. Weasley followed, with Fred and George right behind them.

Mrs. Weasley looked at Valerie.

"You'll go in right after I've gone through with Ginny, and then" she then turned to Harry and Ron. "You two go through." she turned around and ran through the portal.

Valerie didn't want any chance of getting left out, so she ran in immediately after her mother and Ginny were out of sight, getting through the portal.

"Now get on the train, quick!"

Her mother and father gave her a quick hug, and Valerie sprinted, lifting her trolley into the train and sighed, trying to relax a bit. She was on the train! She was going to Hogwarts! Now to find a compartment...

"Nope, that one's full, and that one too... and that one... and that one..." She sighed, but still continued. After a while of searching, dragging her trolley behind her and saying "no" to herself, she almost walked past one compartment in the back area of the train. When she looked in, there were two girls in there, and so, Valerie opened the compartment door.

"Hi. I was late, and everywhere else is full. Can I sit here?"

Both girls looked up at Valerie, and the one on the left answered.

"Sure, sit down."

The redhead thanked the girl before sitting down next to her.

"So, who are you? Are you a first year too?" the girl who answered before asked.

Valerie looked at the girl she was sitting next to. The girl had long dirty blond hair and blue eyes and seemed to be wearing a hand-knitted sweater, jeans and sneakers.

"I'm Valerie Weasley, and yes, I'm a first year. What's your name?" Valerie said with a smile.

"I'm Amanda Buckley, first year as well." she returned with a smile.

Valerie turned toward the other occupier of the compartment.

"And you?"

The girl seemed startled and Valerie was able to look right into her green eyes, which were surrounded by almost jet black hair that came to her shoulders, and her clothes were even darker than her hair.

"Halia... Halia Forsyth... First year as well..."

Amanda clapped in her hands a few times.

"Yay! We're all first years! You guys think we'll have classes together?"

Halia looked at the ground, while Valerie smiled at Amanda and said:

"It depends in what house we'll be, and with what other houses we'll have classes."

Amanda smiled even more, if that was even possible, and asked:

"Oh, yeah, I read about that! What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Probably in Gryffindor, I mean, pretty much my whole family has gone there."

"Can everyone in your family do magic?!"

"Yeah, they can. And in your family?"

"I'm the first!"

"So you're muggleborn?"

"Umm.. yeah, I am."

Valerie turned towards Halia.

"How about you, Halia?"

Halia kept looking at the ground while answering.

"My family is of pure blood."

"Mine as well."

Amanda cut in again.

"So, what are your hobbies?"

"well, I like the thought of doing magic, and imagining things..." Valerie now also looked at the ground. "I also really like drawing."

"Can you draw well? Could you show me one of your drawings?!"

Valerie laughed uncomfortably before she opened her trolley, which was to her right, and searched for a good drawing to show.

"Here is one I made about two weeks ago."

Valerie handed over a drawing in which she had drawn herself in school uniform with a wand in hand.

"It's just a little sketch, nothing big rea-"

"Wow! You can draw really well! Look Halia!"

The dark haired girl looked up at the piece of parchment held out to her and took it, while Valerie was matching her face to the color of her hair.

"... It's a nice drawing."

Halia handed the red-haired girl her drawing, which Valerie put back extremely quickly.

"So," Valerie laughed awkwardly. "what's you guys' hobbies?"

"Well," Amanda began. "I really like to talk with friends, be a bit crazy, you know. I also really like watching movies."

Both Halia and Valerie looked confused at her words.

"Amanda, what are moo-vees?"

Amanda laughed.

"Well Valerie.. Let's see... a movie is like a book. But the difference between the two is that you usually don't read in movies, but you watch what's happening."

"Oh, so it's like a Pensieve?"

"What's a Pensieve?"

"Well, it's like a stone bowl with runes carved in it. You put memories in it to watch them back."

"That's interesting... And I guess it's something similar. You know, I might take you guys with me to watch some movies someday."

"That would be really nice!"

"And what are your hobbies, Halia?"

"I... I don't really have hobbies..."

Valerie cut in.

"Come on, everyone has some kind of hobby, you should have one too."

Halia looked Valerie straight in the eye.

"... My mother.. She was an amazing dualist... I like to think I might become that good."

Both Valerie and Amanda were now smiling and Amanda asked the next question.

"So, Halia, do you have any siblings?"

"I don't."

"Valerie?"

"Yeah, I've got one twin sister and six brothers."

"SIX BROTHERS?!"

Valerie laughed at her reaction, and asked:

"And you, do you have any siblings?"

"well, I've got one big brother... That's it!"

Our little redhead smiled and faced Halia once more.

"And you?"

"No siblings."

At that point in time, the door opened and cut off any more questioning.

"Anything off the cart, dears?"

Both Amanda and Valerie looked up and shook their heads, while Halia just looked at the floor (*sigh* Didn't know the floor was that interesting...)

The dimpled woman with the cart smiled, slid the door closed and walked to the next compartment.

Amanda started talking again.

"Halia, what's so interesting about the floor?"

The black-haired girl looked up startled and looked at the floor not knowing what to do, or how to answer. Seeing this, Valerie glared at Amanda slightly, then looked over at Halia.

"Are you alright?"

The girl, still looking at the floor, answered.

"I'm fine."

"Are you scared?"

Halia looked straight into Valerie's eyes, showing that she was right. Valerie smiled a bit sadly.

"You're not the only one, you know? I'm pretty scared myself..."

Amanda raised her hand.

"I'm scared as well."

"See Halia? Every first year is a bit scared. We're all entering a new world, Hogwarts. You're not the only one, alright?"

Valerie held out both her hands to either girl respectively.

"Let's be friends going into this new world, please?"

Amanda slowly took Valerie's hand, and Halia soon followed, showing her difficulty at keeping her tears from falling.

Amanda smiled.

"Friends?"

Halia looked at Amanda, who was holding out her other hand to the black-haired girl, and grabbed it.

"Friends."

There was a knock at the compartment door, which opened rather quickly, showing Valerie's brother.

"Hi, Percy!"

He looked slightly confused at the held hands, but brushed it off.

"You girls better put on your wizarding robes. The train is going to arrive in an hour."

"That's alright, Percy."

He smiled before closing the door again, probably going to the next compartment.

"So that was your brother?" Amanda asked with a smile.

"Yeah."


	4. Chapter 3: The arrival

**AN**

, thank you! I love it too, hope you'll like this chapter as well!

Also, what do you guys think of the pic by the fanfic? (Hey, that rhymes! :D) I thought it would be fitting if I were to draw it, seeing as how Valerie loves drawing ; )

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Ah, the train stopped!"<p>

Amanda was the first to realize, and was already trying to pull her big bag through the compartment. Valerie was shaking her head.

"Amanda, stop that. Our stuff will be put in our rooms once we're sorted into houses."

"You can't honestly mean that people have to lift all our stuff up to the castle!"

"We're witches and wizards here! People probably levitate our stuff or something..."

"Oh!" Amanda looked surprised and smiled at Valerie. "Well, then. Let's go!"

The three girls struggled to get out of the train, seeing as everyone was trying to get out all at once.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

"Ah look, over there! That man is big..." Amanda looked over to the man with surprise and wonder in her eyes.

"Yeah Come on, Amanda! You too, Halia!"

Valerie took both Halia's and Amanda's hands in her own and walked over to the man.

Amanda's head snapped to Valerie. "Yeah, you're right, come on!"

"Firs' years, follow me! Any more firs' years?! Come on!"

Every first year now followed the big, hairy man (who Valerie thinks looks familiar) through a narrow, dark path. Once they turned a certain bend, there was a loud "Oooooh" because everyone saw a pitch black lake, over which you could see a giant castle with many towers.

"No more'n four a boat!" The man said, pointing at a big group of little boats by the shore. Valerie, Amanda and Halia got into one of the boats, together with some a brown-haired boy, and all boats set off at the same time. It seemed like nobody could keep their eyes off the castle, though Valerie couldn't be sure, since she herself couldn't keep her eyes off the castle.

"Heads down!" was yelled by the man who brought them there, and everyone obediently bent down their heads. They went through an opening in the cliff face covered by an ivy curtain, and into some kind of underground harbor. All three girls climbed out of their boat with a big smile, although Halia was able to hide it better than Valerie or Amanda.

Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock, coming out onto smooth, damp grass in the shadow of the castle. The group of first years walked up a set of stairs and crowded around a huge, oak door.

"Everyone here?"

The big, hairy man knocked on the door three times after asking this. The door swung open immediately, showing a black-haired witch with emerald robes and a stern face.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." the man said.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here." said the woman, pulling the door open completely and letting the first years in. The entrance hall was gigantic, with a big marble staircase going to higher floors. The woman, Professor McGonagall led them to a small chamber adjacent to the entrance hall, where it was now very crowded.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

Amanda turned to Valerie.

"How are we going to be sorted?!"

"Nothing dangerous. We're still eleven-year olds, remember?"

Amanda nodded hesitantly, while Valerie looked around. Everyone seemed scared of what would be happening and Ginny looked exceptionally frightened, which made our little redhead sigh. Valerie turned towards the door, which had just opened , with Professor McGonagall in the frame.

"Move along now. The sorting ceremony is about to start." Professor McGonagall said, "Now form a line and follow me."

Valerie walked behind her twin sister, with both Amanda and Halia behind her. They walked back into the hall, through a pair of double doors into a hall where every other student was seated. Thousands of candles were floating above four tables that seemingly represented each individual house. Speaking about above the tables, the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside and ghosts were floating about, looking at the first years as if they were the most interesting thing to ever enter this hall.

She suddenly heard something, and turned her head to the noise, seeing a hat singing on top of a stool. The little redhead sighed and started thinking of all the things she could do here... drawing during lessons, drawing on homework, drawing in her spare time...

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," spoke the voice of professor McGonagall, bringing Valerie back to reality. Apparently the hat was done now.

"Buckley, Amanda!"

Valerie looked over at Amanda, who was blushing quite harshly but still moved forwards, sat on the stool and waited with the hat on her head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cline, Julius", a boy with brown hair, was sorted into Gryffindor, "Coburn, Isis" was sorted into Slytherin, And "Creevey, Colin" walked over to the Gryffindor table, having just been sorted into said house.

"Evanson, Patrick", A boy with medium-length dark hair, and "Fay, Alexa", a girl with curly light-brown hair, were both sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Forsyth, Halia!"

Halia walked over to the hat with a lowered face.

"SLYTHERIN!"

She got up and kept looking at the ground. Valerie just looked a bit sad (now there goes our chance at being in the same house...)

"Foster, Raphael", a boy with blond hair, and "Grant, Alda", a red-haired girl, were both sorted into Ravenclaw, while "Harper, Austin", a dark-haired boy, and "Idonea, Dorian", a slightly tanned girl with black hair, were both sorted into Slytherin.

"Lovegood, Luna!" A girl with dirty blond hair hopped to the stool.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Mayer, Lucy!" A brown-haired girl walked forwards.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Mayme, Oralie!" A dark-skinned girl with dark hair sat down on the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Parish, Caterina!" Another dark-skinned girl walked forwards, this time with light-brown hair.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Sanders, Ben", a slightly fatter boy with blond hair was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Spear, Ariston!" A tanned boy with brown hair walked forwards.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Thorburn, Neema!" A girl with extremely long dark-brown hair sat down on the stool.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Weasley, Ginevra!"

Now Valerie was the last first year standing there (Oh yay.)...

"GRYFFINDOR!" The students at the table clapped, and Ginny sat down.

Weasley, Valerie!"

The little redhead was having trouble moving her legs up to the stool on which she had to sit.

... Almost there...

Valerie sat down, and the hat was placed on her head, slipping over her eyes and so she didn't see anything anymore.

"Well, you've certainly got an interesting head..."

Valerie felt herself jump slightly at the voice, her cheeks now slowly coloring red.

"You don't have to be so jumpy, girl... So, let's see. You're quite cunning and ambitious, you'd fit well in Slytherin."

Valerie shook her head "My family would kill me."

"Well then... I think it's best if you're placed in-"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Valerie let out a sigh of relief and took off the hat, placing it back on the stool and walking over to the Gryffindor table, sitting next to Fred and George.

"Good job on getting into Gryffindor, sissy!" One of them said.

"Yeah, almost thought you wouldn't make it, Val."

"Oh, be quiet, you two..." Valerie looked over at the Hufflepuff table where she saw Amanda laughing at something another first year said. Then she looked at the Slytherin table, where she saw Halia sitting all alone at the end of the table. She was looking at her plate, which had nothing on it. The little redhead sighed and looked at her plate too for a few seconds, before she shoved it away from her.

"Hey sis, what's wrong? You usually eat almost as much as Ron." One of her brothers asked.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired, and I guess the nerves just made me a bit nauseous, that's all. On another note, where are Ron and Harry?"

The twins brightened up considerably, and the guy sitting across from them, dark-skinned with dreadlocks, answered: "Didn't you hear? They came flying into the Whomping Willow with a car! Such a great entrance!"

"The Whomping Willow?"

"It's a tree that attacks anyone that gets near."

"And they're still alive?!"

"Yeah!"

"Wow..."

"I'm Lee Jordan by the way." The boy got up out of his seat and held out his hand, and in response to this, the eleven-year old girl got up and slowly took his hand.

"I'm Valerie Weas- WHA!" Valerie shrieked, because when she touched Lee's hand, she felt maggots crawling about. She didn't like it, though her brothers and Lee seemed to find it funny, which made Valerie a bit annoyed and she folded her arms. "I'm going to sit with Percy."

One of the twins cut in. "Oh, come on, Val. You don't wanna sit with Mr. Uptight, do you?"

"I actually do, so excuse me." Then Valerie walked away, rubbing her hands clean on her robes while walking, and meeting up with Percy, who was talking with a few friends.

"Hey, Percy." The red-haired male looked up to his right and saw his sister.

"Hey Valerie, is something wrong?"

"Just feeling a bit ill..."

"Sit down." The little redhead sat down next to her brother and laid her head on his shoulder. "Just wait a bit longer. Once everyone is done eating, the desserts will arrive, and once the Gryffindor first years are done with that, we can get you to bed, alright?"

Valerie nodded and closed her eyes, falling asleep slowly on her brother's shoulder...


	5. Chapter 4: The first day

**AN**

Julie, thank you! Here's the next chapter, hope you'll enjoy!

Ann (or is it Anna? I'm confuzzled ;D), I love the portuguese, so it's no problem for you to post reviews in it : )). thank you for the compliments btw, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Hey Val! Wake up! It's the first day of school!"<p>

Valerie groaned and slowly opened her eyes, seeing a very excited twin sister not too far off from her own face.

"Mmm, I'm coming..."

She said this as she slowly raised up and pushed Ginny away from her. She now realised she was in a bed, in a circular room occupied by three other beds.

"What happened last night?"

"You fell asleep, so Percy carried you to our common room, but, because he couldn't get up to the girls' dorms, a 7th year girl had to bring you here."

Valerie got out of bed and saw her stuff lying at the foot of her bed, completely untouched. After seeing this, she walked into the bathroom, looked into a mirror and saw she was still in her uniform. Ginny walked in after her.

"Well, Val, I'm going to have some breakfast. See ya!"

Once Ginny was out of the room, Valerie sighed and went over to the bags lying by her bed, out of which she grabbed a brush and toothbrush and walked over to the bathroom again.

"Time for brushing..."

After she was done with getting herself ready, she grabbed her wand, and wandered out of her room... She stopped outside the door, realising she'd slept when the route to and from the Gryffindor common room was shown... (Oh god! How do I get to the great hall!)

Valerie just walked down the stairs to the common room, hoping there was someone she could follow... And... no.

No one.

Our little redhead sighed and walked out the door to the common room, hoping she wouldn't get lost.

"Ah, the sleepy girl!"

Valerie jumped, hearing a voice just behind her, and turned around. She saw a painting of a fat woman in a pink dress, who was looking at Valerie warmly.

"You don't have to be so jumpy, dear."

Valerie sighed, and smiled at the woman sheepishly.

"Miss, could you tell me how to get to the great hall?"

"Well, I can't leave my painting in case someone wants to gain entry into the common room... "

"Don't worry about it then, ma'am. I'll find the way myself."

And with that, Valerie turned around and walked out of the woman's sight, searching for a staircase...

Rounding corners, walking down corridors and descending stairs, Valerie finally found the great hall, where she quickly sat down at a random spot at the Gryffindor table, putting all kinds of things on her plate.

"Miss Weasley, you're quite late."

Valerie turned around, seeing professor McGonagall standing behind her.

"I'm sorry professor, I didn't know the way..."

The woman just put a piece of paper next to the redhead's plate and walked away. Valerie picked up the paper while she continued eating. It was her timetable, showing her she only had one lesson before lunch, History of magic. It seemed like she had enough time to figure out where some classrooms were before having to go to her own. She finished eating her last two sandwiches and got up, planning on getting her bearings inside of Hogwarts.

"Ah! Valerie!"

Our little redhead turned around and saw a familiar blonde standing there.

"Oh, Amanda!"

"Do you have classes right now?"

"No, I've got a free period. I was planning to walk around Hogwarts a bit."

The blonde smiled.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

"Not at all."

The redhead smiled as well, setting off to explore the school with her friend. She turned towards the blonde.

"So, how are you enjoying the school, Amanda?"

"Well, I haven't really attended any lessons, but... IT'S AWESOME!"

Amanda threw her hands in the air and started running, leaving the students who were walking by looking confused. Valerie just laughed and ran after her friend.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of running around, Valerie found herself outside of the castle. Amanda sat down on the ground, motioning for Valerie to join her, which she did happily.<p>

"That was pretty fun." said Amanda, still breathing a bit heavily from running.

Valerie burst out laughing. "Did you see their faces?! They looked as if they'd never seen first-years run!"

"I didn't, I was busy being faster than you."

"Hey, you got a head start!" Valerie said, after which she pushed Amanda to the ground, still laughing.

"Get off of me!" the blonde got out before going back to laughing, hitting Valerie softly.

"Alright, alright."

Valerie got off of Amanda, just now calming her laughter down a bit. Said blonde turned towards her redhead friend.

"So, what're we going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, what part of Hogwarts do you wanna explore?"

Valerie thought for a second, before getting up and looking at Amanda again.

"Let's just go wander around the castle, I honestly don't know any specific spots."

Amanda laughed.

"Yeah, me neither. Let's go!"

The blonde took Valerie's arm with her own and went back inside, walking through random corridors and going up and down random stairs.

* * *

><p>After a while, it was time for their first lessons, so they split up. Amanda headed to Defense Against Dark Arts, while Valerie headed to History of Magic. She had to walk quite far, since they had been on the fourth floor, but she was able to find her way pretty well, if she did say so herself. Just going down a few flights of stairs, searching for the classroom, and there she was. She was the fifth student to get to History of magic, and so, she sat down at a desk, waiting for the rest of the class to fill in.<p>

Only when she looked around did she realise she didn't know anyone in this class... Except for Ginny, but Valerie's twin was already sitting next to a brown-haired Gryffindor girl, while our little redhead was sitting at a table all alone.

"Alright, get out your books at page 12."

A ghost floated inside and appeared to be the teacher. This was going to be an interesting class...

Wrong.

A monotone voice and no interaction with your students is not at all a good combination for a teacher. (Great first class, Valerie...) She looked around the class again, seeing that some people were trying to pay attention, mostly the Ravenclaws, while others were just staring out the window, or talking to their neighboring student.

Then, the door slammed open, while a girl with dirty blond hair and a dreamy aura skipped inside, not even looking like she noticed the way people looked at her.

"I'm sorry professor, the nargles kept me."

After hearing someone speak out at a normal volume, the teacher, Mr. Binns, turned around and looked at Luna.

"Sit down next to Miss Weasley." he spoke, before he turned around and went on with his lecture.

"Hello." the girl said as she sat down next to Valerie.

"Hi." Valerie replied.

…

"I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood."

Valerie looked at her new neighbor.

"I'm Valerie Weasley."

Valerie then tried to pay attention to the given lecture, while Luna just seemed to stare into nothingness.

* * *

><p>"And that's all for today."<p>

Those words awoke Valerie from some kind of slumber she hadn't realised she'd fallen into.

"Good morning, Valerie." the girl next to her said dreamily as she slowly packed her bag.

"Mind if we walk to the great hall together?"

Valerie stood up out of her seat and started packing her bags as well.

"No, I don't mind." Valerie said, smiling at Luna.

Luna smiled at Valerie and they both walked (Well, Luna skipped) out the door, to the great hall. Just before they reached it however, Luna turned towards Valerie.

"Valerie, don't distance yourself from those at a distance... Oh, look, they have blueberry muffins." Luna said this as she skipped into the great hall, once again either ignoring or not noticing the confused glances she got. Valerie walked over to the last table and sat down, piling random food onto her plate and thinking. (What was she talking about?)

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when her brother, Percy, sat down next to her.

"Hey, Valerie. How're your classes going?"

"Oh, hey Percy. History of Magic was extremely boring."

Percy smiled while grabbing a muffin.

"What classes do you have this afternoon?"

"Umm, let's see..." said Valerie, taking her timetable out of her bag. "First I've got charms... Then Potions and to top it off I've got Astronomy at night."

She grabbed an apple.

"And you?"

"I still have double history of magic and Arithmancy left."

"Sounds boring..."

Her brother took a sandwich.

"It's interesting. Besides, I'll need the N.E.W.T.s if I want a good job later on."

Valerie sighed and shook her head, but smiled nonetheless.

"You never change, do you Percy?"

"You shouldn't either, Valerie. Now tell me, have you made any friends? How about those girls on the train?"

Valerie looked at her plate.

"Amanda is nice, and she's a Hufflepuff, so that's not bad... Halia, however, she's become a Slytherin..."

"So?"

Valerie looked at her brother with a surprised look.

"You don't mind?"

"Why should I mind in which house your friends are?"

"But mum and dad wouldn't like it... Neither would the rest of the family."

"Aren't you the one who has to chose? Our family doesn't even have to meet her if they don't want to. You're the one to spend time with her, so you get to chose."

Valerie smiled and got up.

"You're right! Thank you, Percy!" she said, after which she hugged him and ran off to her next lesson.

* * *

><p>"Amanda!"<p>

Said blonde turned around, smiling when she saw Valerie running towards her.

"Hi there."

"We've got charms together!" said Valerie, holding her hand high for a high five.

"Yay!" said Amanda, high fiving the redhead.

"Come in, class, come in!"

Both Amanda and Valerie turned towards the voice, seeing that the door to the classroom was now open. They both went in as quickly as possible, making sure they would be sitting next to each other. They took out their books and looked at the teacher, who was so small he had to stand on a pile of books behind his desk so he could be seen.

"Please open your books at page 54, class."


	6. Chapter 5: Thinking

**AN**

Thanks Julie, I really enjoyed your review! I love that you love the characters I'm using ; D Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Alright, keep your cool Valerie... Nothing bad is going to happen..."<p>

Valerie was talking to herself, trying to toughen up for what she was going to do. She's been like this ever since she got to the door to the potions classroom and noticed there were two Slytherins already there. (Yay. Potions with the Slytherins. Why do I have to be the only Gryffindor here at the moment?!)

The classroom door slammed open and the Slytherin students surrounding it now slowly made their way into the room, sitting at the desks closest to the teacher's desk. Valerie took a couple of deep breaths and entered the classroom, sitting close to the front, but still at a distance from the other Slytherins. She sighed, hoping to get a chance to talk to Halia during this class.

Some people walked through the door. Sadly, they were only a few Gryffindors, not the person our little redhead was looking for.

(Ah! There's Halia!) Valerie saw the black-haired girl walk inside, only to be ignored, and said girl sat down next to a blond Slytherin girl. (And... mission aborted..)Valerie sighed. One of the Slytherin girls was left standing.

"Miss Thorburn, if you would be so kind as to sit down next to Miss Weasley. We seem to have an uneven number of both Gryffindors and Slytherins."

The deep voice that just announced that little sitting arrangement was the man who was now gliding in, looking like a bat. Valerie had heard enough about the greasy black-haired, unfair git called Severus Snape from her brothers, but her first impression topped all the stories she'd been told. He was downright creepy, the way he looked at every first-year as if they were his prey. Not really the kind of guy Valerie would like to be associated with.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Sheesh, that got you in the mood for making some potions to prove yourself. Or, at least, that's what happened to Valerie. Only, they didn't start by immidiately making potions, which the redhead should've guessed. They started with going through some theory about a potion they were going to try brewing coming friday, when they had double potions class.

-skip-

"I want a foot long essay about the potion come friday. Class dismissed!"

The man stood behind his desk, glaring at the students that were packing their bags. Valerie was one of the first ones to leave the class, but wasn't left alone for long.

"Hey Weasley!"

Valerie turned around, seeing the brown-haired girl she had sat next to just now, followed by three of her housemates.

"What is it?"

"Just wanted to tell you you'd better prove yourself during brewing next friday. You wouldn't want to know the consequences if you don't."

Valerie sighed.

"First of all, who are you?"

The girl seemed taken aback, not sure how to react at someone not knowing who she was.

"...Neema Thorburn, and these three are Isis Cobul, Dorian Idonea and Halia Forsyth."

(Halia?!)

"Good to know, but I've got to leave. I'm hungry and I still need to put my books away. See you later, girls."

Valerie turned around, but could still hear the reaction of the angry Thorburn girl. (Better watch my back from now then... What was that about anyway? Why was Halia there?)

Thinking these thoughts over a couple of times, she followed a pair of Gryffindor girls from a higher year going up to the Gryffindor Common Room, where she put her bag onto the bed and went back down the castle for dinner. Valerie took slight detours to get to know her way just a bit better, besides, she had some time to spend before dinner.

* * *

><p>Arriving at the great hall, Valerie was immidiately pulled to the side by a certain blonde.<p>

"Amanda, what're you doing?! I'm hungry!"

Amanda sighed and pulled Valerie outside of the great hall, into a corridor.

"Have you seen Halia?"

This question made Valerie put her primary instincts to rest for a second.

"Yes, I've got potions with her."

"Ooh, how did tha... I'm dwelling off. She's not acting normal!"

"So you noticed that too..."

Amanda nodded.

"We've got Defense Against Dark Arts together, and she seemed to keep hiding behind the other Slytherins."

"She's not at all the girl we met on the train, huh?"

Amanda looked down, when a familiar voice cut through.

"She's scared..."

Valerie looked behind her and saw Luna looking into the distance.

"Luna, what do you mean?"

The blonde turned her head towards Valerie and smiled.

"You two can figure it out. By the way, do you two realise you're being surrounded by wrackspurts?"

Amanda immidiately looked around her, searching for some kind of creature. After not finding any, she turned to Luna angrily.

"Don't trick me! There's nothing surrounding us!"

"I'm not tricking you, you know. Your brain is probably a bit fuzzy."

"There's nothing wrong with my brain!"

Valerie sighed.

"Calm down, Amanda. We've got more important matters to attend to."

Amanda nodded slowly.

"You're right. ... umm, girl, I'm sorry."

Luna walked towards Amanda and smiled a bit wider.

"Luna, Luna Lovegood. Thank you, Amanda."

"You're welc... Wait, how did you know my name?"

By the time she asked this, Luna was skipping away happily, and Amanda tried to run after her, but was stopped by Valerie.

"We still need to think this through."

"... Right..."

"Luna said Halia's scared, right?"

Amanda nodded.

"But how would she know?"

"I'm not sure, but it's as good a hint as any to get Halia back."

"The best option would be talking to Halia privately..."

"Not going to happen, if the bahaviour of her "friends" is any clue."

"What about making her sit next to one of us during some class?"

Valerie turned her head towards Amanda.

"And how would you achieve that? She didn't even look at me when she entered the classroom during potions, and there's not a very big chance of getting the desired sitting arrangements by annoying the teacher..."

Amanda looked slightly surprised.

"Wow... Well, I guess not..."

Amanda looked at the wall.

"Well, let's go have dinner for now, and we'll meet up in this corridor after dinner, alright?"

Amanda nodded hesitantly.

"Alright..." she said and walked off to the great hall.

After thinking for a little bit more time, Valerie also set off for the great hall.

* * *

><p>Walking through the doors, Valerie immidiately looked at the most left table. Once she spotted Halia in the Slytherin crowd, she went over to her own table to pile foods after foods on her plate, all the while keeping an eye on her friend (hopefully not ex-friend).<p>

While the redhead was tearing through mashed potatos, chicken and carrots, she saw Halia look up from her almost empty plate once, only to look Valerie directly in the eyes and looking down again in surprise. The redhead's only reaction was a sigh.

(Let's see... Luna said Halia's scared... Halia doesn't eat much, which only strengthenes Luna's statement... and she looked at me...)

The redhead shoved her plate away after eating the last few spoons full of pudding and got up, getting ready to go back to the corridor to do some thinking before Amanda would arrive.

* * *

><p>Sitting down in the corridor they had chosen, Amanda and Valerie both began to brainstorm.<p>

* * *

><p>After a few minutes, Amanda started talking out loud.<p>

"So she's scared... but of what?"

"...I'm not sure..."

"Why don't we just give her a hug?"

Valerie looked at Amanda.

"Why a hug?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe she's feeling alone and would like a hug..."

Valerie turned a surprised expression to her friend

"Wait! That's it! Amanda, you're a genius!"

Valerie started to pace, while Amanda was confused.

"Giving her a hug?"

"No, not neccisarily, Amanda... She's feeling alone. She's scared. She's a Slytherin. Slytherins have this... this survival instinct..."

"So, what you're saying is..?"

"Halia has probably acted on instinct! She feels unsafe on her own, so she's trying to make those closer to her like her."

"So?"

"By showing no sign of caring to me, or you for that matter, she's showing she can be trusted by her housemates."

"So they don't hurt her?"

"Exactly!"

"But she's not alone!"

Valerie stopped her pacing.

"What do you mean?"

"She has us already!"

"But, Amanda..."

"What "but"?! We're here for her!"

Amanda was now standing, while Valerie leaned against the wall.

"Amanda, you've got to understand that the students here aren't too fond of each other, especially those from different houses."

"What do you mean?"

Valerie looked at Amanda.

"Slytherins have always been enemies to Gryffindors, and it works the other way around as well."

"I don't see how that applies to me..."

"Don't hear this the wrong way, Amanda. I like you, but most people, mostly Slytherins, see Hufflepuffs as the leftovers, the kids that don't fit into any other house..."

Amanda looked a bit shocked and turned her face away.

"But why would she think that way?"

Valerie walked over to Amanda and hugged her.

"I don't think that Halia thinks of us that way..."

Amanda pulled away from the hug.

"What..?"

"I don't think that Halia thinks of us that way, I think she's afraid we think like the average student."

Amanda was now looking at Valerie with a confused expression, and Valerie explained.

"Most people think that all Slytherins will turn evil when they grow up."

"But that's just mean!"

Valerie nodded.

"Exactly, but my family also thinks that."

"They do?!"

Valerie nodded again, now smiling.

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"... Hug Halia!"

Valerie facepalmed, but smiled, which Amanda did as well.

"Try again, Amanda."


	7. Chapter 6: Mission succesful

**AN**

Thank you Julie! I love your reviews, and again, I love that you love the characters, especially my OC's. It makes me happy :D Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Myl, Thank you! I will write more, don't worry. Hope you'll like the chapter!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"So we're really sticking to the plan?"<p>

Both Valerie and Amanda arrived at Astronomy early so they could talk over their plan once more.

"Yes, Amanda. Let's just hope that everything goes as we expect..."

Amanda was fidgeting with her hands, probably nervous for what they were to do. Valerie was nervous as well. If this went wrong, they would be the butt of so many jokes...

In the few minutes that the both of them were getting ready, a couple of Hufflepuffs arrived, as well as a few Ravenclaws and one Gryffindor, no Slytherin as of yet. They would probably all come in one big group, knowing Slyhterins.

"Hello Valerie."

Valerie looked to her side, and saw that Luna was smiling at her.

"Hi Luna."

Luna looked at the door.

"Idonea's not trustworthy in her eyes."

"What do you mean?"

Luna didn't answer, she just smiled at Valerie and took a step back. Once Valerie looked back at the door, she saw that the Slytherins had arrived. Valerie took in a deep breath, shared a look with Amanda, stepped forwards and spoke out:

"Hey! Thorburn!"

The long-haired girl looked at Valerie and smirked.

"Something wrong, Weasley?"

"Something is indeed wrong, Thorburn."

"And what is that something, Weasley?"

"You've got one of my friends stuck in your parade, we'd like to help her out of there."

While Thorburn was suspiciously looking at the girls behind her, Valerie made eye contact with Halia, nodding once. After getting a nod back from Halia, Valerie looked back to the Thorburn girl, who started speaking again.

"Who is this so-called friend of yours then, Weasley?!"

Valerie smiled at the girl.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Thorburn?"

"I'm asking, Weasley!… Unless... Oh, of course! You're tricking me! No one of their right minds would want to be friends with someone from such a poor, blood-traitor family, especially not any Slytherin."

Valerie burst out laughing, doubling over, visibly irritating the Slytherin girl. When she got upright again, she could see that Halia was suppressing a smile and Thorburn was getting a bit red in the face.

"You think you're so smart, huh, Weasley?"

Valerie smirked.

"I know I am. That's why my Slytherin friend likes me so much."

It seemed like the girl was getting too angry. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at Valerie. The redhead took out her wand as well (Well, Percy's wand to be precise...) and loosely pointed it at Thorburn.

"You think you're so great, aren't you?! You're not! You don't have any friends in Slytherin! You don't have any friends anywhere! Who are you trying to sabotage?! Is it Cobul?! Or Forsyth, or Idonea?! Who?!"

(Using Idonea...)

Looking a bit to the right, Valerie saw the slightly tanned girl with dark-colored hair, proudly dressed in her Slytherin uniform. She was currently softly tugging on Thorburn's uniform, probably trying to calm her friend down.

(But how to use her?)

Amanda started talking.

"Why don't you guess?"

"Oh look, the Gryffindor brought a Hufflepuff pet. How cute."

Valerie interupted, having thought of something.

"Don't try to avoid the question, Thorburn. Have you got any... Idea..?"

The brown-haired girl looked confused and was thinking for a few seconds, before her mouth fell open in surprise.

"Don't tell me... Idonea?!"

Said tanned girl looked even more shocked than Thorburn, if that was even possible, and started stuttering.

"I... Wha.. I don't.."

"How dare you be friends with the blood-traitor?! I trusted you!"

They went on fighting, and while they were busy, Valerie looked over at Halia. The black-haired girl seemed surprised and looked over at Valerie, who winked at her.

"What's happening here?!"

The Astronomy professor came walking towards the bunch of students, wanting to start the lesson, but seeing the two Slytherin girls fighting, she decided to comment on them.

Thorburn noticed their professor standing right there, and immediately seemed to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but-"

"I'd like to start class now, Miss Thorburn. You can explain after class together with Miss Idonea. Class, come in!"

Everyone poured inside, wondering how their first Astronomy lesson would be going. Some people still seemed to whisper about the fight that just happened, and stared at Valerie and the Thorburn girl, but they kept whatever comment they had to themselves.

Once everyone sat down and had their telescope and books ready, the teacher explained what they were going to do.

"Alright class, for our first lesson we're going to divide our class into groups of three. You will work together with your group to fill in the starchart laid out before you. This is only your first lesson, so feel free to ask if something's wrong."

With that, everyone got up and searched for a group. Amanda took hold of Valerie's hand and tugged her over to Halia, who was standing next to the silently fighting girls. Amanda called out to her.

"Hey, Halia!"

The black-haired girl turned around at hearing the voice and smiled once she saw who it belonged to.

"Want to form a group with Valerie and me?"

Halia nodded enthusiastically (for her, at least), walking up to Amanda and taking her other hand.

"Thank you.."

Amanda smiled at Halia.

"No problem! That's what friends are for!"

They were now standing at the spot they were assigned to as a group, and Valerie smiled over at Halia, pointing to Amanda.

"If it were up to her, she would've hugged you out of nowhere."

Amanda started blushing.

"It was only a suggestion!"

Valerie looked over at her black-haired friend.

"Well, anyway, it wouldn't have gone as well without Luna's help."

"Who's Luna?"

"She's a Ravenclaw girl. Let's see..."

Valerie started looking around the classroom, but couldn't find the girl.

"Where is she..?"

"Ah, there she is!" said Amanda, pointing in the direction of the teacher's desk.

Valerie smiled a thankful smile in Amanda's direction and got up, going to thank the Ravenclaw girl who had helped her. Walking over to the desk where the blonde was standing, Valerie tapped her on the shoulder, and smiled at the surprised look the girl had when she turned around.

"Hi Luna."

"Ah, hello Valerie. What a beautiful night it is."

"A beautiful night indeed, Luna. I wanted to thank you for your help."

"I hardly did anything."

"You helped us though, and we want to thank you for that."

"Ah, Miss Weasley" said Professor Sinistra, having just returned from wherever she had gone. "Do you have a question?"

"No, Professor Sinistra, I didn't. I just wanted to thank Luna for something she'd done."

"Well, Miss Weasley. If you're so thankful, you could let Miss Lovegood into your group."

"Ah, of course, Professor. I didn't realise she wasn't with someone yet. Luna, would you like to join our group?"

Luna looked extremely thankful.

"Yes. thank you, Valerie."

"Come on."

By now, Valerie had grabbed Luna's hand and pulled her towards where Halia and Amanda were working.

"Amanda, Halia, guess who just joined the group?"

They both looked up at hearing their friend talking to them and smiled at Luna, Amanda being the first to speak.

"Hi there, Luna!"

"Hello Amanda."

"You still haven't told me how you know my name..."

Luna just lifted up her shoulders and smiled at Amanda, who, on her turn, just sighed, shook her head and smiled back. Halia then took her turn.

"So... Luna, was it? Thank you for helping us."

"I didn't do anything, Halia."

Amanda spoke in a surprised tone.

"Really, Luna, how do you just know everyone's name?"

Luna seemed to ignore Amanda's question and hopped over to one of the telescopes, beginning their group's work. Amanda looked angry.

"She doesn't even answer me..."

Valerie smiled at Amanda.

"Let's just take her example, alright?"

"... On ignoring?"

"No, Amanda, on starting our work."

"Oh, of course!"

Both of them smiled at each other and went to work as well, seeing that Halia had also already begun.


	8. Chapter 7: You learn something every day

**AN**

Julie, thank you! Let's just hope she stays IC. That's really the biggest thing I'm worried about for this fanfic, have Luna be OOC... Hope you'll enjoy the chapter! ; )

Also, this is a bit of a short chapter, sorry for that :(

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Mmmh..."<p>

Valerie groaned while she stretched, having just woken up from her sleep. Looking around, she saw that her roommates had all gone.

(Better get up and ready...)

Valerie climbed out of bed, grabbed her grooming supplies and uniform and walked into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later, ready for the day. She walked over to her school bag, checking her time-table and seeing they were going to have double Defense Against Dark Arts after a free period. Valerie just hoped one of her friends would be free as well, otherwise she'd just have to start on some homework. (Looking forward to that...)

Walking down to the common room, and exiting through the portrait of the fat lady, she made her way down to the great hall. On the way, however, she saw a familiar blonde walking in front of her.

"Luna!"

The surprised girl turned around and smiled at Valerie once she saw her.

"Good morning Valerie."

"Good morning to you too, Luna. Do you have first hour free as well?"

"It seems so, Valerie. We have double Defense Against Dark Arts together afterwards, as well."

Valerie looked slightly surprised.

"We've got that together?"

Luna nodded and smiled.

"We do."

"Yay!"

Valerie took Luna's hand in her own.

"So, do you want to meet up after breakfast?"

Luna looked at Valerie confused.

"Why meet up after breakfast? We could just sit together."

"Is that allowed?"

"It seems so..."

By now, Luna was looking into the distance, while holding onto Valerie's hand and walking. Entering the Great Hall, Valerie looked over to the Gryffindor table, searching for her brother, because if anyone would know the school's rules about sitting at a different table, it'd be Percy. Having seen him at the end of the table, Valerie pulled Luna over to him.

"Hey Percy!"

Her brother turned around, and, once he saw his sister, he made some space for her to sit. Once he realised she wasn't sitting down, he asked her.

"Aren't you sitting down, Val?"

"Well, Percy… I was wondering if it was against the rules if someone from another house would sit here..."

Percy looked at the connected hands between Valerie and Luna. He then answered, while smiling at his sister.

"I don't think that's against the rules, Val."

"Really?! Thanks, Percy!"

Valerie sat down next to her brother, made sure Luna sat down as well, and hugged her brother, after which she threw all kinds of foods together on her plate.

"I didn't do anything, Val."

"Because of you, we know we're allowed to sit together. So thank you, Percy!"

Percy looked towards Luna.

"Umm… You're going to have to help me with your name.."

Luna smiled at Percy

"Luna Lovegood. It's good to meet you, Percy."

"It's good to meet you as well, Luna…" said Percy, now getting up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to charms."

Valerie smiled up at Percy.

"Of course you're excused, Percy. Go, quickly, before you're late!"

He laughed before walking away, and Valerie's happy eyes never left him until he was out of sight.

"You seem to be quite close to your brother." said Luna, staring dreamily at the piece of toast on her plate.

"I am." Valerie smiled at Luna and started digging into the mountain of food lying in front of her.

"How nice."

"I didn't know you became a Gryffindor, Luna." said a voice behind them.

Both Luna and Valerie turned around and saw Amanda smiling playfully at them, and Valerie pasted a similar look on her own face.

"You wanna become one as well, Amanda?"

"I'd love to, Valerie, but right now I need to get to Transfiguration."

"Aww, that's sad..."

"I'm sorry. Maybe Halia wants to turn into a lion. I'll sit with you at lunch!"

She was already walking away, readying herself for the first lesson of the day. Valerie looked at Luna, who was staring dreamily at her piece of toast, which was now half eaten. Valerie dug into her pile of food again, before she saw someone standing at the other side of the table.

"You eat a lot..."

Valerie looked up, seeing a certain black-haired girl standing there and smiled.

"Hi Halia! I know I eat a bit much. It happens when you live with my mom for as long as I have... Wanna sit down?"

"Is that alright?"

"Yeah sure. It's not against the rules..." said Valerie, just before stuffing some egg into her mouth.

Halia looked uncertain, but nodded anyway and sat down, shifting uncomfortably.

"Valerie..?"

"Hmmm?" came the reply of the eating girl.

"Thank you.."

Valerie swallowed and smiled at Halia.

"You already thanked me, Halia."

"I know... But I wanted to thank you again... It meant a lot..."

"Thank you, Halia."

Halia looked surprised.

"Why thank me...?"

"Because, Halia, hearing that just now makes me happy, so thank you!"

Luna then cut in.

"You seem to be free the first hour, Halia. Would you like to search for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"

"A what?"

"A Crumple-Horned Snorkack. You've never heard of them before, Halia?"

"No, Luna, sorry..."

"Don't worry, not a lot of people know it exists. You might want to read The Quibbler, though. It has interesting articles about creatures like that."

"The Quibbler? Why The Quibbler?"

"My dad is the editor."

"Ah, of course. I'll look into it. Thank you for the recommendation, Luna."

Luna smiled gratefully and put the last piece of her toast in her mouth, got up and skipped over to the other end of the table, where she halted and waited for the other two. Valerie quickly shoved a sandwich in her mouth and got up as well, making Halia get up as well. They both walked over to Luna, and together the three left the Great Hall and went outside.

"Oh, Valerie."

Halia looked at Valerie with questioning eyes.

"Are you sure you were sorted right?"

"Wh- what?"

Valerie was surprised by the question, to say the least.

"How do you mean?"

"Well... You're act kind of-"

Cutting Halia off, Valerie pulled both her and Luna away from the few people who were sitting around the area. Halia was slightly confused.

"What did you do that for?"

"Sorry Halia, I just don't want anything getting back to my family..."

Luna suddenly spoke out.

"The Weasleys aren't very accepting of Slyhterins, are they, Valerie?"

Valerie shook her head.

"They aren't. Originally, the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but he could see that such a thing wouldn't end very well for me..."

Halia nodded.

"I guessed so. You seem like a very good Slytherin, Valerie. Having Forburn and Idonea fight, so they wouldn't have time to fight with me... That's pretty good."

"Oh, but Halia, that part was Luna's idea. Besides, it was pretty funny to see her reaction on my words."

Halia smiled now.

"I had a hard time keeping my face straight."

Luna looked at the both of them questioningly.

"We are still going to search for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, right?"

Valerie and Halia looked at each other and smiled, Valerie being the one who answered.

"Of course, Luna. That's why we're here."

Luna smiled gratefully and wandered off, with Halia and Valerie following her.

* * *

><p>After about half an hour of searching for some kind of creature, Luna suddenly halted.<p>

"Valerie, It seems like the classes will start in a few minutes. Mind walking to Defense Against Dark Arts?"

"No, Luna. That's no problem. We've got that together anyway. What class do you have right now, Halia?"

"I've got Herbology, probably with the Hufflepuffs."

Valerie smiled at her black-haired friend.

"Say hi to Amanda for me, will you?"

"Of course..." she said, just before turning around and walking to the greenhouses.

"Let's go, Luna!"

Luna nodded and started skipping back to the castle.


	9. Chapter 8: Names

**AN**

Thank you again, Julie! I hope you'll like this chapter as well!

**AN**

* * *

><p>Needless to say, Defense Against Dark Arts was an absolute waste of time. Even hoping that 'Professor' Lockhart would be good was a waste of time. The stupid quiz about himself was a waste of time. Everything seemed like a bloody waste of time...<p>

And then there was Herbology just after lunch...

The big bloody idiot showed up AGAIN.

Valerie was now sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, where Amanda and Luna were already sitting. Valerie grabbed a chicken leg off of a plate lying in front of her, ripped off a piece of chicken with her teeth, chewed angrily and swallowed.

"I hate that bloody man."

Amanda looked at Valerie with a compassionate smile.

"You've only known him for one day."

"Oh, Please, Amanda. I've already had enough of the narcissistic, selfcentered fool who's far too enchanted by his mirror image to do something useful."

"Calm down, Vally."

Valerie forgot her anger momentarily, and looked at Amanda with questioning eyes.

"Vally?"

"Yeah." said Amanda, nodding. "I was thinking we should get nicknames for each other, because most of our names are pretty long."

"Okay... But why Vally?"

Amanda smiled brightly.

"It sounds cute. Also, I think it fits you."

"Me, cute?! I'm n-not cute..." said Valerie, slowly growing red in her face.

"But you are, Vally!"

"Who's cute..?"

Valerie looked to her side, where she saw Halia sitting down next to her and her happy blonde friend smiled at the black-haired girl.

"Valerie is!"

Halia slowly looked over at the redhead.

"I guess..."

"I know, right? But she won't accept the nickname 'Vally'..."

"Vally..?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, it sounds too similar to Valley..."

Luna chose this point to cut in, while looking into the distance.

"Why don't you just call her 'Val'?"

Amanda looked at Luna questioningly.

"'Val'?"

"Indeed. That's the name her brothers use for her."

"That sounds logical... Val is gonna be it, then."

Valerie looked at Amanda mischieviously.

"So, what should we call you, hmm?"

"Me?! Why don't you decide on a nickname for Halia, o-or Luna!"

"No, sorry... What about... Ammy!"

"Am-Ammy.? Why Ammy?"

"Because, my dear Ammy, that sounds cute!"

Now it was Amanda's turn to go red in the face, trying to hide behind her hands.

"I... I-I'm no... not..."

"You're probably the cutest out of the four of us, Ammy. Learn to live with it, because it's not going to change."

Amanda now kept quiet as she ate, while still blushing a lot. After a little while, Luna made a comment.

"And what about Halia?"

Valerie and Amanda looked at each other, but Valerie spoke first.

"I can't come up with anything... except..."

Halia was now looking very tense.

"Except for what..?"

"Well, It's not a good name..."

"Please, tell me."

"Halia, It's really dumb..."

"Val.."

Valerie sighed quite deeply.

"Alright... I can't come up with anything other than Haha..."

Luna burst into laughing.

"Ca- Calling Halia... Haha!"

Valerie was slightly shocked to see the usually calm girl laugh so boldly about something, but still said:

"I-it's not funny!"

"Bu- But! Haha!"

Valerie looked at Amanda, who held one of her hands against her mouth to keep herself from giggling, and then looked at Halia, who seemed to hang her head low, so no one would be able to see the blush, that Valerie knew was spreading under her hair.

"I'm sorry, Hal."

Valerie froze for a second, and once that second was gone, she threw her hands in the air.

"You're gonna be Hal!"

Halia looked up at Valerie, remnants of her blush still visible.

"Hal?"

"Yeah! It's simple, It's short and it kinda fits you!"

"But, isn't it too similar to your own name..?"

"Nah, don't worry Hal, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Halia nodded and smiled before biting into a piece of beef. Amanda looked in deep thought.

"What're we gonna do with Luna?"

Valerie thought deeply.

".. What about Luny?"

Amanda shook her head.

"That sounds too similar to loony, Val... And Nana?"

"Nah, that sounds too similar to Nanny... Lulu?"

Luna cut in, looking slightly angry.

"Please don't give me a name. I like being Luna."

Valerie, Halia and Amanda nodded and smiled, Amanda being the first to talk.

"So, we're Val, Hal, Luna and Ammy... That actually sounds pretty nice."

Valerie, at this point was stuffing herself with some mashed potatoes, while Halia just shrugged her shoulders, being halfway through devouring some chicken. Luna just popped small bits of food in her mouth every ten seconds, and now Amanda pricked some carrots onto her fork and brought them into her mouth.

* * *

><p>After being done with the dessert, the four first-years got up and slowly walked out of the Hall. Outside, Halia halted, making the whole group stop their travels.<p>

"I'm going to have to go downstairs right here... I'll see you guys tomorrow.."

With that, the black-haired girl turned around and walked down the steps into Slytherin territory, while the other three girls waved at her and called 'goodnight'. Amanda wandered up to a door to the side of the hall.

"I'm gonna have to say goodnight for today as well, so: Goodnight!"

Amanda said this as she smiled and waved extravagantly, as if Luna and Valerie were standing far away, not as close as they were now.

Luna and Valerie smiled and waved back, both a little less extravagantly, but waved nonetheless, and they made their way upstairs, letting a comfortable silence hang between them.

After Luna said goodbye on the fifth floor, Valerie walked up two more flights of stairs, rounded some corners and came up to the portait of the Fat Lady, where Valerie stopped and waited until the Lady had spoken.

"Password, please."

"Wattlebird."

The portrait swung open, showing a big room full of students. Valerie climbed through the hole and immidiately walked up to her dormitory, preparing to make her homework for Potions. Sitting on her bed and opening up her book, she started writing.

* * *

><p>I know, right?! He's so-"<p>

Valerie looked up from her work to see her twin walking into the dorm, seemingly shocked to see Valerie sitting there.

"Hey Gin. Were you expecting something else?"

Ginny just shook her head and plastered on a smile.

"Not at all, Val. Hey, could I copy your Potions homework?"

"Umm, sure Gin..." after this, Valerie handed Ginny her homework.

"Thanks. Oh, also, this is Lucy Mayer. She shares a room with us."

Valerie got up and held out a hand for the brown-haired girl to take, which she slowly took.

"I'm Valerie Weasley, twin of Ginny."

The girl laughed slightly.

"Yeah, I know. Ginny's told me a lot about you."

"All good things, I hope?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Ginny held out the parchment Valerie had been working on out to her, and our little redhead took it.

"Thank you, Val."

"Don't worry about it, Gin."

Ginny walked over to her dresser and took out a couple of things that she quickly put in her other bag.

"See ya, sis!"

Valerie waved at her leaving twin, though she got a very ominous feeling.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she continued on refining a few spots in her potions homework.


	10. Chapter 9: Wands

**AN**

I have to thank you once more, Julie, for your review. Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

**AN**

* * *

><p>Friday pretty much came and went. Potions went good enough now Valerie had Halia as her partner, which caused the female Slytherins to give the black-haired girl the silent treatment.<p>

Lunch wasn't anything spectacular, just sitting at the Hufflepuff table, talking about tons of things, like what kinds of homework everyone had, and what kinds of classes they still had to go to.

Then History of magic slowly came and went even slower. Even watching Luna make excentric notes didn't quite keep Valerie's attention to the lesson.

When she was let out of History of Magic (with too much homework, I might add), Valerie sighed, not at all happy with how her day was going up until that point. Then she walked into the Transfiguration classroom, and her day suddenly got a bit better.

For one, when everyone (which were all Gryffindor first-years) got into the classroom, the cat sitting on the teacher's desk changed into their teacher, Professor McGonagall.

After a little explanation about what they were going to do, they were put to work. The group of Gryffindors had one class period to turn matches into needles.

* * *

><p>(Well... I think that's alright...)<p>

Valerie was currently twisting her silvery, slightly pointy match between her fingers.

"Ah, Miss Weasley! You've done it! Look, class. Miss Weasley has grasped the basics. 5 points to Gryffindor."

Valerie was now suddenly the center of attention, and she wasn't very fond of it. She hunched her shoulders slightly, kept her head down a bit and just waited for class to be over so she could leave.

* * *

><p>"... and so, apperently, I was the only one in our class to be able to make the match change."<p>

Halia nodded, listening intently to the story Valerie just told her, still chewing on a bit of beef.

".. You'd be the only one between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses.."

"Really? I didn't think it was al that difficult."

"What's difficult?"

Valerie turned around, seeing both Amanda and Luna, the first blonde having asked the question, on which she wanted to add:

"Also, why are we sitting at the Gryffindor table again? When's the Slythering table going to be sat on?"

Halia sighed, but still answered:

First of all, Amanda, you don't sit on tables, you sit on chairs. Secondly, you'd probably be getting comments, and I'd like to avoid that."

Amanda stuck out her tongue at Halia.

"First of all, Hal... We decided on using nicknames for each other, so please do that. Secondly, what were you guys talking about?"

Halia perked up slightly at Amanda's question, and answered.

"Apperently Valerie's one of the only current first-years to change a match during Transfiguration."

Amanda nodded.

"Yeah, no one in Hufflepuff was able to make a change."

After not hearing a comment from Luna, Halia asked about it.

"And in Ravenclaw..?"

Luna looked as if she had just awoken from a deep slumber, wearing a very surprised expression on her face. Once she'd calmed down a bit, she answered.

"...No one."

Amanda grinned widely at that comment.

"So, Val. You seem to be the only first-year to do it. How do you feel now?"

Valerie started blushing.

"I.. but... Why am I the only one? I'm not that good, right?"

Halia cut in.

"... I think you might have a talent for Transfiguration, Val.."

"... I.. I do..?"

All three of her friends nodded to answer her question, making her blush even deeper. Valerie just picked up some beans with her fork and started eating.

* * *

><p>It was now Saturday, and Valerie, like every other student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, didn't have any classes today.<p>

She decided to just go down to the Great Hall to see what was on the menu that morning.

Coming into the Great Hall, Valerie looked around, saw Luna sitting at the Ravenclaw table and decided to join her.

"Hi Luna!"

"Hello Valerie. It's a nice Saturday morning, isn't it."

Valerie smiled at the blonde.

"It is, Luna."

The two of them sat in a comfortable silence, each eating their own breakfast.

"Hi there!"

Valerie looked up to the person standing behind Luna and smiled.

"Hi there, Ammy."

Amanda smiled, sat down next to Luna and grabbed some toast.

"So, what are you guys planning to do today?"

Valerie thought for a moment before answering.

"Maybe we can hang out together?"

Amanda smiled brightly.

"I'm all for that! Luna, you too?"

Luna looked at Amanda and smiled.

"Of course. By the way, it seems like our friend has just arrived."

Valerie looked behind her, seeing a surprised Halia.

"Hi there, Hal!"

Halia waved slightly and sat down.

"Really Luna, how do you do such things?"

Said blonde didn't seem to listen to her friend. Instead she just continued popping foods into her mouth. Halia just shook her head and looked up at Amanda and Valerie.

"So, we're spending the day together?"

Amanda nodded enthusiastically while Valerie just smiled at Halia.

"So you're going to stay with us as well?"

Halia nodded while grabbing a sandwich.

* * *

><p>"And so I sent back a reply telling them everything's amazing around here, and how I've got three really nice friends!"<p>

The four students were currently sitting under one of the trees by the Black Lake, where the Hufflepuff of the group was telling the others about her letters to her parents and brother. Valerie smiled at her blond friend.

"How did they reply?"

"They were extremely happy for me, of course! I've never had very close friends, so this is great! They thought so too!"

Valerie smiled happily at the enthusiasm their blond friend was showing.

"You seem to be quite close to your family."

"I am! I love my family to death! Do you not feel the same for your family, then?"

Valerie thought for a moment, before finally deciding on an answer.

"I'm not very close to most of my family."

Luna cut in.

"Though you are close to Percy."

Valerie nodded.

"I guess we're a bit similar. I mean, I even use his old wand! How could we..."

Halia held up her hands, slowly silencing Valerie, and looked at her with a serious expression.

"You don't even have your own wand?"

Valerie looked at the ground in embarresment, but nodded.

"My family isn't very rich..."

Halia sighed.

"Val, a witch needs her own wand! You can't just use someone else's! It doesn't work properly. Do you have money for your own wand?"

"You're fanatic about this, Hal."

"Do you have enough money?!"

Valerie looked at her other two friends and saw that Luna was looking slightly surprised, while Amanda's eyes seemed twice their normal size and her mouth hung open slightly in surprise.

"I've got money, but Hal, could you tell me what caused you to be so... fanatic about this?"

Halia took out her wand and showed it to Valerie.

"An aspen wand. 9 Inches with a core of dragon heartstring. The wood makes for great martial magic, and the core creates the most powerful spells."

Luna took out her wand.

"8 inches, Beech with a Phoenix's left wing feather."

Halia nodded with a pleased expression.

"Your wand shows that you're very wise, and very broad-minded. You may take longer to reveal yourself, but you're able to use the greatest range of spells."

Halia looked at Amanda expectantly, and after a few seconds Amanda got the hint and took out her wand, while blushing.

"Black Walnut with a unicorn hair. 12 inches long."

"A wand with consistent magic, which will do especially well in the fields of Charms. A good one."

Valerie looked at Halia with a confused expression.

"Hal, why is it you know so much about wands? And why are you so fanatic about them?"

Halia smiled a shy smile at Valerie.

"Well, my father sells wands... And I'd like to take over the business when I get older..."

Amanda looked surprised.

"He sells wands? Is it Mr. Ollivander, then?"

Halia shook her head excessively.

"No, Am. My father does business in a different part of the country.."

Luna spoke up, while looking into the distance.

"Why don't we take Valerie to him to find her wand?"

Halia looked pleasantly surprised.

"You know Luna... That's not a bad idea..."

Valerie spoke up worriedly.

"Hey guys, you can keep planning things without consulting me, but if we're going to do this, when would we do this? When could we do this? I probably have to go home during holidays, and it's not like we could just wander off during term..."

Halia thought for a few seconds, before a smirk covered her face.

"I think I've got an idea..."


	11. Chapter 10: The trip

**AN**

Sorry, Julie. Sadly, Gregorovitch just wouldn't fit into the story as Halia's daddy. Still, thank you for your amazing talent to keep on reviewing, and I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Thank you, Judith! Also, I luv you speaking Dutch! Yay for everyone in the world, whoo!

Also, just, something else, I've been a bit busy these past two weeks, and will be busy the next, like, three weeks... So thank you for your patience and I'm sorry for inconvenience... :'(

**AN**

* * *

><p>"So we're really doing this, then?"<p>

Halia nodded at Valerie, making sure of the time every few seconds.

The four of them were currently just a little bit inside of The Forbidden Forest, preparing for the use of their portkey, sent to them by Halia's father.

"But what if they notice we're gone? It is Halloween after all.."

Luna shook her head and looked at Valerie with a dreamy expression.

"They will be too busy to figure it out tonight. Also, you chose a beautiful evening for us to go, Halia."

Halia nodded in a distracted way and looked up at Valerie.

"Everything's been planned thoroughly, Val. We use a portkey just outside of Hogwarts's wards, get you a wand, come back here and act like nothing happened."

Valerie nodded unsurely, and Amanda put a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"Everything's going to be alright, Val. Our Slytherin planned it together with her dad. There's nothing to worry about."

Halia looked up at the three of her friends.

"It's almost time. Please touch the portkey."

Valerie put one of her hands on the diadem held out to her, and after waiting a few nervewracking minutes, the four of them were transported to quite a dusty room. Amanda had fallen over and Valerie held out a hand to her, helping her back up. Halia walked out of the dusty room and her three friends followed her, not knowing what else to do.

They came into a living room, filled with couches, a fireplace, some chocolate in a bowl on the coffee table, a desk and a few drawers. Halia looked at the room.

"He really outdid himself for tonight... Father! Where are you?!"

As she called, a middle-aged man with short, brown hair came strolling in with a huge smile on his face.

"Ah, Halia! And of course, your friends!"

The man, presumably Halia's father, came over to shake everyone's hand, and, once he was done, he asked:

"So, who of you wants a wand?"

Valerie raised her hand.

"Me, sir..."

The man smiled at the redhead.

"You can call me Calvert. Come, We'll go find you a wand."

Valerie followed the man (It would take time to start calling him "Calbert"...), and seemed to wander into some kind of library, only instead of the books there were hundreds of boxes with wands in them, all ordened in the bookcases that were standing there. Amanda was looking around with an interested expression.

"This is much better-looking than Ollivander's, Mr. Forsyth.."

The man smiled gratefully at the blonde and then turned to Valerie with a more serious expression.

"So, I'm going to need to know some things. First-off, Are you right-handed, or left-handed?"

"Right-handed, Mr. Forsyth."

He smiled at Valerie and took out his own wand, which was long and had an intricate form. He waved it around a few times and measuring tapes came over to Valerie, seemingly measuring her. After a few seconds, a magic quill wrote something down on the piece of parchment on Mr. Forsyth's desk.

"Alright, let's see..."

Halia's father read what had just been written down and looked around the room, rubbing his chin with two fingers. After a few seconds he walked over to one of the bookcases filled with boxes, and took one of the boxes out and held it out to Valerie.

"Rowan wood, Unicorn hair core, a flexible 10 inches. Wave it around a bit."

Valerie did as he said and waved the wand twice, but as a result, some boxes crashed down their bookcase. The wandmaker behind her shook his head.

"No, it's not that one.." he said, and took back the wand, setting it aside at his desk. He then immidiately walked over to another bookcase, and took out two other boxes.

"The first is a 12 Inches long Red Oak wand with Phoenix feather core. Try it."

He handed Valerie the wand, and, after she waved it once, a flowerpot exploded.

"You'd think it'd be different with someone who's been at Hogwarts for two months... Anyway, try this other one. Pine, 9 Inches, with a Dragon Heartstring core."

Valerie waved it around a few times, but nothing seemed to happen.

"No, that's not it either, but..."

Halia's father seemed to think for a few seconds again, then set aside the wands just tried and took out another box.

"Try it."

Valerie took the wand out of the box, and it looked quite intricate, it's jet-black wood twirling, and the base having a few bits of wood sticking out, climbing their way through and around the main twirl, making it look like it's just a random stick, but at the same time looking artistic.

Valerie waved it once... Red, silver, and black sparks flowed from it and as this happened, Valerie felt warm from the inside, and she smiled.

"This feels incredible..."

Mr. Forsyth smiled brightly at Valerie.

"That's an ebony wand of 10 Inches, with a Dragon Heartstring core, and it's quite flexible."

Valerie looked at her new wand happily.

"How much do you ask for it?"

* * *

><p>"But I just love how it looks!"<p>

The four friends had gone back with another portkey, and were currently walking up to castle of Hogwarts, with none of them focusing on anything else apart from Valerie's new wand. Valerie smiled at Amanda.

"I do as well."

Halia cut in.

"Your wand fits you quite well."

Valerie looked at Halia with a questioning glance.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your wand finds it's partner in someone who's not afraid of being themselves."

"So?"

"Oh, what do we have here..?" said a smooth, deep voice.

Valerie looked up at the man now standing in front of her. Halia cut in.

"Sorry sir, we've been at The Black lake while dinner, is something wrong?"

"The students have to be in their Common Rooms at the moment, Miss Forsyth."

"Oh, okay. We'll go to our Common Rooms then, Professor Snape."

"Not so fast, girls. I don't need you to travel on your own right now. I should escort you."

Halia nodded, and Professor Snape walked through the doors, as they were almost in the castle, and the others followed. First, they walked Amanda to her Common Room, then Snape dismissed Halia, as the Slytherin Common Room apperently wasn't far off from where they were at the moment, and from there they walked to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Valerie and Snape were currently standing in the hallway to the Gryffindor Common Room. Valerie plastered a smile on her face, looking at her teacher.

"Thank you, sir."

Without saying anything back, the greasy-haired man stalked away, wearing his usual scowl. Valerie sighed and shook her head, before telling the Fat Lady the Gryffindor password, stepping into the Common Room and sitting down next to her favorite brother.

"Hey Percy." said the redhead before yawning.

Her brother looked at his tired sister worriedly.

"Everything alright, Val?"

Valerie nodded and smiled happily.

"Look what I got." she whispered and she took out her new wand.

Percy looked incredibly surprised, but after calming himself down a little, he whispered back:

"Where did you get that?!"

Valerie frowned at Percy.

"If you don't tell on me, I'll tell you."

Percy sighed, but agreed and Valerie smiled.

"Well, Hal, Ammy, Luna and I used a portkey to get to Hal's father's place, he sells wands there. So, we went there to buy a wand from my money and now I've got my own wand!" she whispered.

Percy looked confused.

"You've got money?"

"Well, yeah. Don't ask where I got it though..." (He probably won't like it if I told him I got it from Mrs. Malfoy...)

The male redhead nodded unsurely.

".. Alright... I won't ask..."

He cleared his throat.

"So, what kind of wand is it?"

Valerie smiled brightly.

"10 Inches of Ebony wood with a Dragon Heartstring core."

"It seems like a pretty good wand, Val. Could I hold it?"

Valerie thought for a few seconds, but smiled and handed over her wand to her brother.

"Wow, it feels like it's radiating power... While it doesn't feel right in my hands, this wand feels so much more powerful than my own... I'm jealous..."

Valerie snatched back her wand and smiled mischieviously.

"Is the great Percy telling me I've got something better than him?"

Percy pouted, but couldn't keep it up for long, so he started laughing. Valerie smiled.

"Don't want to just walk away, Percy, but I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"Ah, Val!"

Valerie turned around to look at her brother, having already gotten up.

"Yes?"

Percy looked at his sister with a serious expression.

"Val, Filch's cat has been pertified tonight, and a notice has been left in blood. I don't want you to do anything dangerous like your stunt today. Please?"

Valerie, shocked beyond words, just nodded with saucer-like eyes. She waved, turned around and walked up the stairs to her dormitory.

Walking into the room, she sighed and just fell down onto her bed, barely getting together her willpower to take off her uniform.

She was tired, extremely tired of today's happenings... Sneaking out of school, getting her wand, going back, getting caught by Snape and then finally hearing about... such a thing...Luckily, tomorrow is Sunday...

With that thought, Valerie fell asleep, with her wand held against her chest.

* * *

><p>Bit of an <strong>AN<strong>

I'm not sure whether you wanted to know, but for those who do, I'll tell why Percy is kinda OOC... It's nothing big really, and I'm not gonna make an essay about this, but it's basically because Val and Percy are each other's favorite sibling. The others usually tease Percy and Valerie (mostly Percy though), so while he doesn't hate them, he's not as fond of them as some others might be of their siblings, which is why he's stern towards most of them, and really nice to little Val. I reckon he recognises something in her from himself as well, so that is also a part of it.

Also, that part between siblings is just a theory, but it works in this story, so yay!

See ya in, like, probably three days!


	12. Chapter 11: special day!

**AN**

Julie, thank you again so much for the review. It really makes me happy every time :D Also: NOO! I HAVE FAILED! You found a typo! (so much drama ;p ) Hope you'll enjoy!

Hello Guest. You've got a great, original name in my opinion, especially on this site XD still, all jokes aside, thanks for the review, and I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

**AN**

* * *

><p>(7th of december, huh...)<p>

Valerie was currently staring at the calendar she held in her hand and sighed. So many things had happened after the night she got her wand. Her class- and housemate, Colin Creevey, was petrified, just like Mrs. Norris. No one was allowed to wander around alone anymore, and teachers were on alert 24 hours a day... Not that she didn't understand why, she did, but she wasn't happy about it, because she hadn't been able to see her friends as often as before, only during some classes, dinner, and sometimes during breakfast and/or lunch.

The good news, however, was her wand. She felt like she could do spells on instinct with it. It felt wonderful. Especially during Transfiguration, the wand seemed to come to life. Valerie was able to accomplish every task they were given with almost no difficulty whatsoever.

Another good thing was that Halia was able to tell Valerie what the chamber of secrets was about (apparently she'd done some asking around..). It seemed like the chamber of secrets was, in fact, a secret room, made by Salazar Slytherin himself, and was home to a monster that might be the cause for the two petrifications that happened.

"Val, you coming?!"

"Sure gin!"

Valerie got up, put the calendar onto her bed, grabbed her bag and walked out the room with her twin sister, heading for the Great Hall, where she would most probably meet up with Luna and Halia before she'd to Transfiguration, with the both of her friends heading to Flying Lesson (which, in my opinion, was quite boring...).

Walking into the Hall, Valerie didn't see her two friends yet, so she sat down at the Gryffindor table, next to her sister. Like every morning, Valerie put a mountain of food on her plate, and started munching on some bacon, while her sister, talking to her other roommate, Lucy, ate some eggs.

"Miss Weasley?"

Valerie looked up at her Head of House standing at the other side of the table and smiled.

"Yes professor?"

"Are you going home during Christmas?"

Ginny cut in.

"We are, Professor!"

"Ah, of course. It's noted down." said Professor McGonagall, nodding and walking to some other students that arrived just now. Valerie turned to glare to her twin sister.

"You know I can answer for myself, right?"

Ginny smiled sheepishly for a few seconds before turning her head away, starting to talk to her friend again. Valerie sighed again.

"You should watch out, Valerie."

Said redhead looked up at where the voice came from and smiled, seeing her favorite Ravenclaw standing where her Transfiguration Professor was before.

"What for?"

Luna smiled and sat down, ignoring the question and grabbing a piece of toast. Valerie sighed, but smiled at her blond friend.

"So, how are your Flying lessons?"

Luna looked at Valerie with a dreamy expression.

"As well as they can go."

"They're horrible."

Valerie turned around, seeing her Slytherin friend right behind her.

"How so, Halia?"

Halia sat down at the Gryffindor table and sighed.

"It's embarrassing..."

"So you don't really have a talent for Flying?"

"It seems like it..."

Valerie laughed a little, making her friend blush.

"I'm not so good myself either, Hal."

Halia looked surprised and stared at her red-haired friend.

"Isn't it in your family or something?"

Valerie shook her head.

"No, It's not. A lot of my brothers have been on the team though... First, Bill was Keeper. Then, Charlie was Seeker. Fred and George are both Beaters, and both Ron and Ginny aspire to be on the team."

Halia sighed and let her head hang.

"And you say it's not in your family?"

"Yes."

Luna looked at both Valerie and Halia with a dreamy expression, interrupting their current conversation.

"You're both going home for Christmas?"

Valerie nodded.

"Yeah, I have to. So you too, Hal?"

Halia nodded.

"I have to help in my father's shop..."

Valerie smiled.

And you, Luna?"

Her blond friend nodded happily and got up, looking at Halia with a serious expression.

"It seems like class will start in five minutes."

And with that, Luna started skipping away, with Halia walking fast enough to catch up to the girl before exiting the Great Hall. Valerie got up, grabbed her bag and walked out of the Great Hall, heading for the Transfiguration Classroom.

* * *

><p>As usual, Transfiguration went amazingly well, and after once again earning Gryffindor 5 points, Valerie made her way to Charms, which she would have together with Amanda.<p>

"Good morning, Val!"

Valerie turned around, seeing Amanda run up to her, and the redhead smiled.

"Hi, Ammy!"

"I'm so excited!"

Valerie's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What are you excited for, Ammy? While it's fun, Charms can't be that exciting, right?"

Amanda smiled brightly.

"No dummy!" she said, and she looked around her before whispering into the redhead's ears. "Wednesday is Halia's birthday!"

Valerie looked shocked.

"How did you find out?!"

"I asked her dad when we got your wand."

"You're a genius, Ammy! But what should we do for her birthday?"

Amanda smiled mischievously.

"I might know something."

* * *

><p>"Ammy. I don't know if you realised it, but you're an idiot."<p>

Amanda replied with a laugh. Valerie sighed. Of course, they would love to give Halia a nice birthday, but really? What was Amanda thinking, trying to invade the Slytherin Common Room?! They wouldn't get in, or, worst case scenario, they wouldn't get out. Alive, at least.

"Why are we doing this again?"

"Because we want to give Hal the best birthday ever, duh!"

"And your plan was?"

"I've got the password, and we just enter and see how it goes."

Valerie shook her head.

"I've warned you multiple times, Am. We're either not getting in, or not getting out. You've got to know how secretive Slytherins are! They're not going to take it well if we just invade their territory!"

"Well, how do you want to do it then?!"

"Carefully and safe! Not stepping into the territory of those that would love to hurt me, or worse, some might want to kill me. I'm not going in there."

"Val, it's not that bad... right..?"

"I'm a Gryffindor, Ammy. I've told you at the beginning of the year they practically despise me. They probably wouldn't find you worthy to enter their Common Room, and, honestly, it's a wonder they've left Halia alone..."

Valerie heard footsteps from a distance and looked up, seeing another blond friend wandering up to her.

"Hello Valerie, Amanda."

Amanda smiled at Luna painfully, still being a bit depressed over her plan not going the way she'd wanted it to. Valerie waved at Luna with a sad smile.

"Hi Luna."

Luna smiled dreamily and pointed above Valerie's head.

"You want to get in there."

Valerie nodded, and Luna looked into the distance.

"It seems you two should prove yourselves before you're allowed to enter the Common Room."

Amanda looked confused, and replied slightly angrily.

"How should we prove ourselves then?! We need to get in there today!"

Luna shook her head.

"You're not supposed to be in there today. Maybe later..."

Luna looked into the distance, looking as if she wasn't in this world anymore, and Valerie, getting used to Luna being right most of the time, nodded and walked away, not waiting for her friends, who she knew were following her.

"Val, wait!"

Valerie halted and turned around, seeing Amanda run up to her (hmm, maybe she wasn't following then?).

"What's wrong?"

"We should at least get her a present!"

"She's getting one at dinner."

"What do you mean?"

But instead of answering, Valerie shook her head, smiled at Amanda and kept on walking, now with the both of them at her side.

* * *

><p>Going up the stairs to the Entrance Hall and going into the doors to the Great Hall, the three friends sat down at the Ravenclaw table, the redhead of the group piling foods after foods onto her plate, while her two blond friends both ate normal portions. All the while, they ate in a comfortable silence.<p>

"Hey guys..."

Valerie saw Halia getting ready to sit down at the other side of the table, looking depressed. Amanda looked at her friend with a worried expression.

"Are you alright, Hal?"

Halia nodded slowly and grabbed a bit of chicken, slowly eating little bits and pieces. Valerie couldn't help but be worried for her friend.

"Hal? What's wrong?"

Halia shook her head.

"... Nothing..."

Luna looked at Valerie with a happy smile, and Valerie felt a bit less worried. (I guess this is about her birthday, then...) With that thought, Valerie felt a lot better, and she smiled at Luna, mouthing a 'Thank you!' to her blond friend. Luna just averted her eyes into the distance.

Valerie quickened her eating, so she'd be done when everyone else was done, because, while she ate almost as much as her brothers, she didn't shove it inside of her mouth like them, although, right now, she did.

When they were done with dinner, the desserts followed, but, instead of only the usual noise of speaking students, whispering guys and gossiping girls, one other sound was heard by everyone, which caused the talking, whispering and gossiping to die down to a minimal level of whispers of students wondering what the sound was supposed to be.

Out of nowhere, an eagle owl came flying into the Great Hall, through the windows the owls came through every morning, screeching to let everyone know it's presence. After flying circles in the air, showing itself off, it came diving down to the group of four friends.

Settling itself onto the Ravenclaw table, everyone could see something was attached to its feet. One letter, and one box, both with Halia's name on it. Needless to say, said witch looked surprised, and she blushed intensely at the fact that the whole school was watching, but still got up the courage to open up the letter.

After reading the letter, she looked at her redhead friend with an accusing glare, but opened the box anyway.

After fumbling with opening the box, she was able to open it, and after looking inside, she gasped quietly and took out what was inside. A silver dagger, finished off with blue Turquoise in its hold, looking extremely expensive, and looking like it's capable of being used for many things.

Halia looked speechless, while Luna fed the eagle owl some bacon and Amanda looked surprised. Valerie smiled at Halia and whispered to her.

"It's for wandmakers, though I don't doubt you could use that for duelling as well. Also, I chose Turquoise, because it's your birthstone, I hope you like it."

Halia nodded, still with an overwhelmed expression on her face, as everyone else slowly started their chatting up again.

(It seems like this was a good birthday... Now, why have I got this foreboding feeling again?)


	13. Chapter 12: Going home?

**AN**

Guest, thank you for both your reviews! Hope you'll enjoy!

Julie, thank you so much for reviewing every chapter! I love you! Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Sadly, this chapter is a bit short... :( I had a bit of writer's block, but I needed this to happen to set some more relationships...

**AN**

* * *

><p>"It's still a bit sad, though..."<p>

The four friends were currently sitting in the Hogwarts Express, on their way home for the holiday. Needless to say, they were all quite sad that they had to leave each other. Valerie looked at the blonde who had just spoken.

"I know, Ammy. I'm not looking forwards to going home, but oh well... at least we only have to miss each other for two weeks, right?"

Halia nodded with a sad smile, and Amanda started laughing softly, to which everyone reacted with a questioning look thrown in the direction of the blonde.

"Ammy, why are you laughing?" Valerie asked.

Amanda looked her redhead friend in the eyes and smiled.

"Isn't it ironic, though? We say we're going home, but I feel like Hogwarts is my home. Don't you guys feel such a thing?"

Valerie was a bit shocked that her friend felt the same, even though she had an amazing bond with her family, and it looked like Halia was shocked as well.

"I do as well." Luna said, making both Valerie's and Halia's eyes grow twice in size. Luna as well?! She had an amazing relationship with her dad. After a minute, Halia swallowed her shock and spoke up.

"Hogwarts is more of a home to me than the house my dad and I live in, yes."

Valerie looked at the floor.

"I agree. I... I feel more accepted there..."

Amanda looked at her red-haired friend worriedly.

"How do you mean, Val?"

Valerie looked at her three friends, and then looked out the window, at the landscapes that were speeding by.

"My family is nothing like me, honestly. Most of my siblings love quidditch, I don't even like it enough to go watch. They all like doing things together, I like sitting up in my room, taking my time drawing things. They're all pure Gryffindors, and me? I'm someone who was almost sorted into Slytherin, if it weren't for the fact that the hat took other's opinions into consideration... "

Luna smiled brightly at Valerie.

"But that's why you're so close to Percy, isn't it?"

Valerie looked at Luna and smiled sadly.

"I guess so."

The four of them stayed quiet for the rest of the journey.

* * *

><p>"And, it's time... I better go out alone..."<p>

Valerie sighed and got up, after having felt the train stop. She saw her three friends get up with sad expressions on their faces, and our little redhead picked up her trunk, waved at her friends, and left the compartment, looking back once, seeing Amanda leave as well, saying goodbye to her two friends in the compartment. Our little redhead sighed once more, and made her way out of the train, searching for her mother, who she found after a few minutes of searching through the masses of people at the platform, ready to take their children home for two weeks.

"Hi mum."

Valerie's mother looked at her daughter and smiled brightly.

"Valerie! Oh, it's so good to see you darling!"

Molly hugged her daughter and kissed her on the cheek, which Valerie swiftly wiped off with the ends of her sleeve.

"Good to see you, mum."

Being content with all she was getting out of her daughter, Molly walked back to where only Ginny was standing and grabbed her daughter's hand, Ginny smiling warmly at her mother, which look was returned. Sighing, Valerie walked over to them and sat down on the ground, looking into the distance, waiting for her brothers to appear so they could go home.

* * *

><p>'Finally home'... that's probably the thought that entered the head of most of her family, but not Valerie. Our little redhead's only thought was on how to get to her room in the quickest way, though it seemed like fate had other plans.<p>

"Miss Valerie Cedrella Weasley!"

Valerie turned around, wondering what in god's name she'd done wrong.

"What's wrong mum?" she asked innocently.

"What have I heard from your sister?!"

"I don't know what you've heard from my sister, mum."

Molly looked at her red-haired daughter with an angry scowl.

"Why is it that Ginevra's told me that you've been befriending Slytherins?"

"Is that a sin, mum?"

"Valerie, you know that Slytherins almost always turn out bad, that's the way it goes."

Valerie had to bite her tongue not to reply with something like: 'Well, your own daughter is one, so watch out!'. Sadly, she had to keep her mouth shut, because, for one: She was uncomfortable with her family now, and she'd be even more uncomfortable if they knew. Secondly: Her whole family would probably hate her. Thirdly: It wouldn't help her case right now. And so, because of these thoughts, Valerie kept quiet.

"Valerie. Never let me hear that you're on friendly terms with a Slytherin from your sister again."

"But why mum?! Slytherins are ambitious, cunning and sly! While easily turning to the dark arts, those traits don't MEAN that they go dark!"

"Valerie! Don't scream at me! Slytherins go bad! There's nothing anyone can do about it, least of all you! You're not even a Slytherin!"

Valerie shook her head. (If you only knew...)

"I'm going upstairs. See you later, mum." Valerie said, and turned around, walking up the stairs with her bag.

"You are not leaving in the middle of this argument, young lady! Get back here!"

Instead of listening, Valerie walked up the stairs faster, and, once she reached her room, she locked the door and sat down on her bed, crying.

( If only she knew... If only she bloody knew! She wouldn't be screaming at me! She wouldn't even dare!)

Valerie roughly wiped away her tears and threw herself onto her pillow, hugging it closely to herself as she cried and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>(What's that sound..?..)<p>

Valerie opened her eyes, searching for the thing that was making a tapping sound, and saw the very same eagle owl from Halia's birthday sitting at Valerie's window. Valerie got up from bed, slowly walking over to the owl, opening the window and letting in the majestic bird.

The bird flew in and settled on Valerie's bed, looking up at the redhead expectantly. Valerie looked at it with a confused expression.

"What are you doing here? I thought I hired you for one delivery, and that was it..."

The owl lifted one of its feet and Valerie could see a letter tied around it. She walked over to the majestic spotted eagle owl and took off the letter, sat down next to it and looked at the parchment.

_Hello Valerie,_

_I saw that you used this owl for delivery when I looked into some of my husband's documents. He's got his share of businesses, and this one was one of them._

_Now to the important part:_

_It's come to my attention that you've got a friend in Slytherin, as well as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. This has made me want to write you a letter to congratulate you, but, not wanting to use our own owls, as they would be too recognisable, I used this one._

_If you ever need to ask me something, you can owl me._

_Good luck,_

_N.M._

_P.S. You can keep the owl._

_P.P.S. His name is Comet.  
><em>

Valerie didn't know what to think. Here she was, crying about her mother disapproving of her friends, when she gets a letter from a woman hated by the Weasleys, who approves of Valerie's new friendship and even gets her a gift. It probably couldn't get any more confusing.

Valerie stopped her difficult thinking, for now just accepting things how they were. She wouldn't stop being friends with Halia, or Amanda or Luna. Nor would she try to change herself out of her Slytherin mentality. Instead, Valerie would just be herself, with her own, actual friends, and if her mother disliked that, she would not have any luck being angry at Valerie. It's not like she could change anything, anyway.

Valerie smiled brightly and petted her new owl, before letting it out of the window again.

"It's not the best idea to have you in here, Comet. People think I don't have any money, and they'd wonder why you'd be here. Sorry..."

The owl seemed to shake its head, in a 'don't worry about it'-kind of way, and he flew out of the window, into the night.

Valerie smiled through the window for a little while longer, unlocked the still locked door and went back to sleep, not caring that dinner would come and go by. She wanted to process this thing going on between herself and Narcissa Malfoy.

Sadly, before she could get any enlightenment, she fell asleep.


	14. Chapter 13: Going home

**AN**

Julie, once again I thank you for your review. I enjoy them a lot! Hope you'll enjoy my post as well!

SamanthaJane, here's your wish! Hope you'll enjoy!

Also, don't get used to new posts being this late, I really feel bad now... I've been busy of course, and a friend stayed over to clean my room (she apparently likes cleaning rooms o_O) Also, I'm getting a pet snake very soon, so I'm also busy with that... Main point is, I'm very, very sorry the chapter is late, but there were reasons.

**AN**

* * *

><p>Christmas holidays came and went, and in all honesty, Valerie didn't care much. She got a sweater for christmas, ate dinner with her family and watched New Years' fireworks, presented by her brothers Fred and George. She was extremely happy that it was now January third, the day she'd go back to Hogwarts.<p>

And then there was the matter of Mrs. Malfoy...

Valerie wanted to write back to thank her for Comet, or for her seemingly endless bag of money, but the redhead didn't know how she would even begin thanking the richest woman in the Wizarding World.

Then she thought of getting her a Christmas present... Yeah, that didn't work out...

At first, Valerie was extremely excited that she could thank Mrs. Malfoy with a present, but then she thought it over a bit better. What would she like? What would be an original present to someone who has pretty much everything? And wouldn't it stand out to her family? (I mean, I don't think her husband or son know about this... thing... going on.) If she'd receive a present from an anonymous source, that should alert her husband, right?

After thinking of these things, Valerie decided on staying silent, staying up in her room for a few days, only going out for dinner, breakfast, showering and going to the toilet.

And, while she didn't know how to send a letter to Mrs. Malfoy, she did know how to send one to her friends. Corresponding with them was great, with Amanda going all out with her letters, and both Luna and Halia holding back a bit, each in their own way. It was so characteristic that Valerie broke out in laughter when she got back letters.

Her parents saw the eagle owl get in and leave every few days, and, because of it, our little redhead was questioned. She lied without a problem and told them it was a friend's, and, when her mother asked whether it was her Slytherin friend's owl, Valerie shook her head and walked away, not caring enough for their suspicion to grow and make them play interrogation with their daughter.

With all these memories of the Christmas holidays, Valerie sighed and smiled when she saw they were nearing King's Cross once more. Getting out of the car first, and quickly grabbing her stuff, the little redhead ran towards the barrier keeping her away from her friends, and jumped in happiness after appearing at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. She walked over to the train with a huge smile.

"Val!"

Valerie turned around just in time for a blond Hufflepuff to wrap her arms around Valerie. All the redhead could do was look flabbergasted.

"Amanda?!"

The blonde unwrapped her arms and smiled at Valerie sheepishly.

"Sorry, Val. I'm just so happy to see you!"

"No worries, Ammy. I'm just surprised, that's all."

"So you don't mind me hugging you?"

"Not at all, Ams."

Amanda smiled brightly at Valerie's statement and hugged her again.

"Thank you!"

The redhead smiled at Amanda shook her head, wrapping her own arms around her friend.

"Missed you too, Ams."

Amanda let Valerie go and started hopping in place.

"I can't wait to get back!"

With that, the blonde picked up her stuff and ran to the train, stopping just before the entrance, waiting for her red-haired friend. Said friend laughed and walked over to the blonde, and together they searched for a compartment.

After a while, they came across Luna, who was sat in a compartment full of Quibbler magazines.

"Hey Luna."

Luna looked up at Valerie and smiled.

"Hello Valerie, Amanda."

Amanda smiled brightly and entered the compartment, making sure not to step on one of the magazines sprawled around.

Valerie shook her head smiling, and entered, going through the same intricate parcour her friend did just now.

"So, you guys did anything interesting during holidays?"

Luna shook her head, and Amanda smiled brightly.

"We went to a theme park!"

Valerie looked at Amanda confused.

"What's a tea park?"

Amanda laughed.

"Tea park?! No, Val, it's a THEME park. Does the Wizarding World have playgrounds?"

Valerie nodded with a very puzzled expression. Amanda smiled.

"Well, it's something similar, but with more interesting things, like rollercoasters and stuff..."

"What's a roller coast?"

Amanda ended up sighing.

"Don't worry about it, Val. I'll take you there sometime."

"Take her where?"

Valerie looked up and saw Halia. Amanda smiled brightly.

"Hal! It's so amazing to see you! Were holidays good?"

Halia looked at Amanda dryly.

"Very."

Halia also walked the complicated parcour, sitting down next to Luna. Valerie smiled compassionately at her friend.

"I take it wasn't very enjoyable?"

"Oh, no, it was just great, Val."

"Aww, Hal, tell us what happened."

"Quit the sing-song voice and I might."

Valerie frowned for a second, but nodded and looked at Halia expectantly. Said black-haired girl sighed.

"Well, to start, during the holidays was my mother's birthday."

Amanda looked puzzled.

"But isn't that a good thing?"

Halia looked at Amanda with an unusual harshness in her eyes.

"Not when she's dead."

Valerie froze, and she saw Amanda did the same. (Dead?! How come?...)

"Hal...? How..."

Halia looked as if she could start crying at any given moment now.

"She was killed in the first war..."

Valerie looked at the ground, feeling guilty. She now realised how Halia had never talked about her mother, except for the first time they met. At that time she told them how she'd like to be as good a dualist as her mother was. At this memory, loads of memories came up, with Halia saying things like 'I'm living with my father' and 'returning home to the place father and I share... Valerie shook her head, not believing she hadn't gotten the clues before.

"I'm sorry Hal..."

"You can't be sorry. There's nothing you did, and there's nothing to feel sorry about."

"But Hal, I'm sorry for not noticing before..."

"..."

Halia looked out the window.

"... Now you've heard one of my deepest secrets... I hope you appreciate it..."

Both Amanda and Valerie were speechless after such a cold, but still trusting conversation with one of their best friends. Luna spoke for the both of them.

"We appreciate it."

Halia looked at Luna and finally let her tears go. Amanda was the first to react, and she leaned over to the other side of the compartment and wrapped her arms around her friend.

"We all appreciate it, Hal. We appreciate your trust so much..."

Valerie nodded and leaned forwards as well and took Halia's hand in her own, while her other hand was stroking her shoulder.

"You're so strong right now, Hal. I'm jealous. I'm supposed to be the Gryffindor here."

Halia laughed a little, but her tears kept falling, prompting Luna to put a hand on Halia's head.

"It would be a good idea... What's happening here?"

Valerie looked up, seeing a fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect standing in the doorway, and she shook her head.

"Sorry, but we're a bit busy. We got the message though, and we'll put on our robes when we're done."

The Prefect awkwardly nodded his head and closed the compartment door, most likely walking to the next compartment for his little announcement. Halia looked up to Valerie with a teary, thankful smile.

"Thank you."

Valerie smiled at her friend.

"That's what friends are for."

Amanda looked between them.

"Wait, why act like she just saved you from death?"

Instead of answering, the three looked at each other and smiled. Valerie got up, dug in her own bag, picked up a handkerchief and threw it at Halia.

"Come on, Hal. Let's change."

Halia nodded and wiped her tears away, getting up to grab her uniform out of her bags.

"Yes, let's."

Amanda smiled and got up to grab hers as well, and Luna simply grabbed her own buried in all the Quibblers.

All four made sure the compartment door was locked as they started changing.

* * *

><p>Once they were done, the train seemed to arrive at Hogwarts almost immediately. The group exited the train, and all walked behind the upper years, seeing where they would need to go next time they came back from holidays, if they even went. Luna looked shocked at seeing the carriages, and Amanda looked at her confused.<p>

"Luna? What's wrong?"

Luna slowly walked forwards, now making it look as if she was petting the air.

"You're so beautiful..."

Valerie was stumped, she had absolutely no idea whether Luna was now just acting one-hundred percent crazy, or whether it was just something that most people can't see. Amanda walked up to Luna and poked her shoulder once.

"Ummm, Luna? What are you talking about?"

Luna looked at her friend, then looked back at the pocket of air her hand was caressing.

"You can't see them?"

All three of the blonde's friends shook their heads. Luna reacted by petting the air (or maybe it wasn't just air?) a few more times.

"Let's get in."

All three of her friends nodded and with the four of them they entered the carriage behind the 'maybe not just air' from just now, and, as they sat down, the carriage began moving towards the castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Amanda smiled at the group.

"Finally home as well?"

Halia and Luna both nodded, and Valerie looked out the window at the castle.

"Finally home..."


	15. Chapter 14: What?

**AN**

Julie, thank you again! Not sure whether it's gonna be a him or her, we'll see. If it's a him, its name would prob be Xander or something, if a girl, it's prob gonna be Lizzy (w/ full name: Lissetta for fun). Also, good to know my friend isn't the only weird one out there :D Hope you'll enjoy!

**AN**

* * *

><p>Valerie woke up and smiled brightly. Today it was March 24th, Amanda's birthday. The whole group had exchanged birthday dates, and Halia, Luna and our little redhead had some difficulty deciding on what to get their blond friend, although they settled on something in the end.<p>

The Gryffindor walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day, and after she was done she called in Comet, binding Amanda's present to his feet and let him out again with a 'see you at breakfast, sweety!'.

Valerie litteraly skipped down the stairs to the Great Hall, on the way meeting up with Luna. Once she entered the Great Hall, she sat down at the Hufflepuff table, because her Ravenclaw friend already walked over. Valerie sighed.

"Is there a reason for not sitting at the Gryffindor table?"

Luna looked up at the window.

"Doesn't this spot have better view?"

Valerie frowned, but stayed quiet, because, if there was one thing she'd learned from Luna the past year, it was that she always had a reason to do things, and it was never completely obvious why she did them, but the redhead went with it. It would become obvious after a while anyway.

"I can't wait to see!"

Valerie looked behind her and saw the birthday-blonde. She got up and hugged her friend.

"Hi Ammy! Happy birthday!"

Amanda laughed.

"Thanks, Val!"

They let go of each other and sat down next to each other. Luna looked up at the other blonde.

"I hope you'll have a nice birthday, Amanda."

Amanda smiled brightly at Luna.

"Thank you!"

"Hey, Ams, Happy birthday."

Valerie saw Halia standing at the other side of the table, waving at their blond friend and sitting down afterwards.

"Thank you, Hal!"

Halia smiled at Amanda.

"No problem, Am."

After these greetings, the four started eating, with Valerie once again munching on a mountain of food, and the other three eating normal portions.

* * *

><p>After a while, the owls came with the mail, and, once again, Comet wanted to stand out. The bird came in a bit later than the other owls (which means 10 minutes...), and he circled above the Gryffindor table, dropping something that looked suspiciously like poop on their table and dive-bombed to the Hufflepuffs, landing in front of Amanda with grace. All the blonde could do was burst out laughing at some fourth year Gryffindor with a big white stain on his plate and sandwich, with splatters on everythng in range, and she petted Comet while whispering.<p>

"Love what you did to the place!"

Comet hooted happily and held out its foot. Amanda smiled at the spotted eagle owl and took the present tied around the beautiful bird's legs.

"Let's see what you brought me, Comet."

The bird hooted again and snatched a bit of Bacon from Valerie's plate. The redhead smiled at the bird and stroked his feathers, offering him another piece.

Amanda screamed, and when Valerie looked at her in an alerted way, she saw it was a scream of surprise, and it seemed like pleasant surprise, because the Hufflepuff smiled brightly and took out a small spear, with a bloodstone set on it's end, and an obsidian head on top. The blonde looked at Valerie expenctantly, and Valerie smiled.

"Am, it felt right to get you a spear. It's extendable when you perform a certain charm on it, and it can retract once it leaves it's owner's hands. It has a bloodstone in it, because that's your birthstone. You happy?"

Amanda seemed speechless, looking at the spear she held in her hands.

"Yes... Thank you!"

Amanda hugged Valerie closely, and, once she let go, she looked over at her two other friends and wore a very thankful smile.

* * *

><p>May 29th, huh? Today Valerie's twin was supposedly 'taken to the chamber of secrets', as her Head of House put it.<p>

Exactly three weeks ago Professor Dumbledore was removed as Headmaster, while the Groundkeeper, Hagrid, was brought to Azkaban because everyone suspected him of letting the monster of the chamber go 'round, petrifying everyone.

Valerie knew he wasn't guilty, because she still had that terribly ominous feeling after he was taken away, of which she was sure it was about the chamber...

At the moment, the redhead was sitting in Professor McGonagall's office with the rest of her family, her Head of House and Dumbledore, everyone worrying sick for Ginny, Ron and Harry. Valerie sighed. Her ominous feeling grew stronger and stronger as time continued, then it was gone for a few minutes, and then it came back with a pang.

In the end, Valerie slowly started crying silently, because the feeling was getting so bad it started hurting. Of course, everyone else thought it was because she worried her sister might die, and Valerie was thinking it might be the twin telepathy happening.

She'd been sitting there for about an hour, crying, when it hit her. Such a horrible pain, so excruciating that she had to bite her lip to keep herself from screaming. Sadly, people noticed, and they looked even sadder, as they were sure something bad had just happened to the redhead's twin. Percy came over to Valerie and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her, and Valerie leaned into his embrace. The pain was slowly diminishing, and Valerie wiped away her tears with her sleeve. Percy looked at her worriedly, and whispered to her:

"Are you alright, Val?"

Valerie nodded and wrapped her arms around her brother and closed her eyes, needing him to stay right there, with her in his embrace, because it calmed Valerie down, and it always had.

Then, the door opened.

Valerie opened her eyes and looked towards the now open door, seeing Harry Potter, her brother Ron and the inadequint professor, Lockhart, but most importantly, she saw her sister Ginny.

Why did she see Ginny alive and well? Ignoring the whole 'Oh Ginny, you're alive!' stuff going on, Valerie was confused. Why that ominous feeling, why the pain, when Ginny, her twin, was alright? Sure, she had some wounds, and Harry was smeared with blood, but this was different. The redhead felt like a part of her had just died, or something had been torn from her. Why? How? What made her feel that? If it wasn't her twin connection with Ginny, what was it then?!

It was that moment, the moment she let her eyes wander through the office, that she noticed a pierced book on the desk, along with the Sorting Hat and a sword, but her eyes were pulled to the small, black, pierced diary. Her ominous feeling grew slightly, but she now felt more at ease somehow. She didn't know how or why, but her feeling had something to do with that book, she knew. She knew for sure.

She also knew somehow that she wouldn't obtain that book that easily. Call it instinct, intuition or just Luna rubbing off on her, she knew Dumbledore knew it was something more than it seemed, and if she asked, she wouldn't get it. She'd need a plan and she'd need her friends.

Speaking of her friends, she'd need to tell them what happened today, and she'd need to tell them about the feeling she had.

For now her pain had diminished to a low level, and she'd be able to do her everyday things with that little extra weight on her back, with maybe a few problems. Once she had a way of getting that diary, she'd come back for it. Yes, she needed to come back for that small black, pierced diary, she knew, and she would.

Percy got up, prompting Valerie to follow him out of Professor McGonagall's office, and leading her to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Valerie walked the whole way, deep in thoughts, and, once she reached her dormitory, she changed into her pajama's and got into her bed while thinking.

Needless to say, that foreboding feeling took a while to get used to... She had a sleepless night.


	16. Chapter 15: Forgetting something?

**AN**

Good to know, Julie, that you like the names :)) And no, of course I haven't noticed that you like the fic ;) jk, Hope you'll enjoy!

Guest, thank you for both reviews! Hope you'll enjoy!

Jenicia, loved your review! Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Also, just getting it out there, every review makes me smile, and some even make my day! Just wanted to let you know :D

**AN**

* * *

><p>"See you later, Hogwarts..."<p>

At the moment, Amanda was looking out of the windows, sighing sadly when the train, in which they were sat, started moving. Valerie, who was sitting next to her blond friend, put a hand on the her shoulder.

"It's sad, isn't it?"

Amanda leaned back in her seat and sighed again.

"It's just not fair. Why are the holidays this long?"

Halia yawned.

"It's going to be extremely boring, and, although working with wands IS quite fun, I can't wait to come back here..."

Valerie nodded.

"Me too."

At that exact moment, Luna grabbed Amanda's bag and started digging into it. Amanda watched her friend with a surprised expression, too shocked to do anything.

"Luna...? What are you doing.?"

Luna smiled brightly as she pulled out a few sheets of muggle paper and handed them over to the Hufflepuff.

Said Hufflepuff stared at the paper and turned it over a few times, reading through the content, and suddenly a surprised expression covered her face.

"Oh, right! I forgot all about these!"

Valerie looked at her blond friend confusedly.

"What do you mean, Ammy?"

Amanda looked at her friends, and smiled sheepishly.

"Well... My parents would like it if you guys came over to our place actually..."

Halia looked at her Hufflepuff friend with a serious expression.

"And, Amanda? When did you get the letter?"

Amanda blushed and looked at the floor.

"...Last month..."

Halia sighed and opened her mouth to respond, but Valerie had quickly placed her hand over the Slytherin's mouth. Said redhead smiled at her black-haired friend.

"Don't play mother to Ammy, Hal. It's amazing that they've invited us, and we're happy about it, aren't we?"

Halia pushed away Valerie's hand and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

Valerie smiled at her friend, and looked over at Amanda.

"I would absolutely LOVE to come over, Ammy!"

Amanda smiled brightly at her red-haired friend.

"Really?! It's no bother to you?!"

Valerie shook her head fiercely.

"No! Absolutely not! Not at all! I'd love to come over!"

Amanda smiled at the Gryffindor in a thankful way, and then turned to the other two girls in the compartment with a begging expression.

"And you two?"

Halia sighed at seeing Amanda look at her with puppy eyes.

"Sure."

Amanda smiled a thankful smile again and turned an expecting expression to the Ravenclaw, and said girl smiled slightly at the sight of the look the blonde was giving her.

"I'll come."

After hearing this, Amanda froze for a few seconds, but after seemingly getting her brain to start again, she got up and started jumping, holding her hands near her mouth.

"I'm so excited! So excited! So extremely excited!"

The three still sitting girls smiled at seeing their friend being so excited. Valerie cleared her throat to divert attention to her, and everyone's attention turned to her. The redhead looked towards Amanda with a serious.

"You're going to have to come with me to meet my mother then, otherwise she wouldn't let me go."

Amanda nodded with a confused expression.

"Okay..."

Valerie sighed before going on.

"Also, don't mention that Hal's coming as well, please? My family isn't very fond of Slytherins, sorry Hal."

Halia shook her head.

"I'm used to it. It's a wonder they don't know we're friends though."

"They do however."

Halia looked at her Gryffindor friend in a surprised fashion.

"They do? How are we allowed to be friends then?!"

Valerie yawned.

"We're not allowed to be friends, at least, that's what they think. I personally think we ARE allowed to be friends. Also, so does my brother."

"So, you're not the only one in your family that accepts me?"

"My brother accepts my friendship with you, yes. Accepting you for you would be a bit more difficult..."

Halia looked down.

"Oh..."

Valerie smiled at her.

"But it's not impossible."

The black-haired witch looked the redhead in the eyes.

"Are you certain?!"

Valerie nodded with a bright smile.

"Yes."

Halia smiled brightly, almost beating Amanda's happiness, but only if she would have started jumping through the compartment.

Valerie looked over at said Hufflepuff once more.

"So, Ammy, you're coming along once we reach King's Cross?"

Amanda nodded while smiling.

"Yes!"

* * *

><p>"Well, here we are..."<p>

Valerie was a bit nervous once they reached Platform Nine and Three Quarters, but Amanda squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring look.

"Don't worry! Come on!"

After saying this, said Hufflepuff let the Gryffindor's hand go, picked up her baggage, and waited at the compartment door for her red-haired friend. Valerie got up, grabbed her own baggage and walked over to the blonde.

"Let's get this over with..."

Amanda smiled at the redhead's statement and got out of the train, keeping close to her friend, who was searching for her mother.

* * *

><p>After seeing a small group of redheads, Valerie felt like her knees could easily Transfigure themselves into pudding any moment now.<p>

"Ah, Valerie! Who's this?"

Her mother had to start this immediately, huh? Luckily, Amanda seemingly had enough Gryffindor in herself to respond.

"Ah, Mrs. Weasley! I'm Amanda, a Hufflepuff student in Valerie's year. I came here with Valerie, because I'd like to ask whether she could come over to my place during summer holidays. Could she?"

Molly looked surprised, but smiled at the girl.

"Of course, my dear. I'm assuming you can discuss the details per owl?"

Amanda nodded with a smile.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you! Bye! See you, Val!"

Amanda hugged Valerie and ran away, holding onto her baggage tightly. Valerie's mother looked towards our Gryffindor.

"She's a nice girl. I hope you got rid of that Slytherin friend of yours?"

Valerie acted like she didn't hear her mother speaking so badly about her friends, and, all the while gritting her teeth, she already headed over to the portal between muggle terrain and Platform Nine and Three Quarters, not waiting for the rest of her family.

"Just ignore her, alright?"

Valerie looked to the side, seeing that her favorite brother, Percy, was walking next to her.

"I'm trying."

"I know. I'm only reminding you."

Valerie looked her brother in the eyes.

"Thank you, Percy."

Said brother smiled at his sister.

"No worries, Val."

The red-haired girl smiled at her brother.

(Luckily, not my whole family is narrow-minded... Maybe... Only maybe... Hmmm...)


	17. Chapter 16: Ready for some fun?

**AN**

Guest, you're welcome! Hope you'll enjoy!

Julie, thank u once more! :D Hope you'll enjoy!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Mum! Come on! You were the one that felt like you NEEDED to bring me to Amanda's place!"<p>

Valerie was almost jumping from excitement, standing in the middle of the living room in their house, The Burrow. Her mother sighed.

"Not now Valerie. I'm busy getting lunch ready. I'm sure your friend can wait for a while."

"Mum! If you're so busy, couldn't I go myself? It's not difficult to travel by Floo Powder."

Mrs. Weasley turned around, gave Valerie a glare and turned back, returning to making sandwiches.

Valerie sighed and started balancing on her heels. Today she was going over to Amanda's place! She was extremely excited, especially because her mother had agreed to let her stay over for three weeks! Molly had talked to Amanda's parents by owl, and luckily the blond Hufflepuff mentioned to her parents that it wouldn't go as planned if they would mention that Valerie and Amanda's two other friends were coming over.

Speaking of her friends, Luna's birthday was in a few days, and it already seemed like it would be an amazing day. The four of them would be at Amanda's house, with only one of the four knowing anything about Muggles. Valerie laughed at the thought. Who knows what weird things they would do or say to the muggles there. It would be a crazy three weeks, but probably the most fun she would have had since ever.

Her brother, Percy, was also out of the house during those three weeks. apparently, he got himself a girlfriend! A girl called... Penelope? (I think that's right...) She's from Ravenclaw. The male redhead promised his sister that she'd meet her during next school year.

"Come on, Valerie."

(Ah finally!) Valerie skipped towards the fireplace, which was where her baggage was piled. First, her mother took the upper bag, which our little redhead had deliberately put there, so she wouldn't take anything that Valerie would want to hide, and she stepped into the fireplace, holding a handful of Floo Powder, and calling: "The Buckleys!"

After that, Valerie's mother was taken by the green flames, and now it was Valerie's turn. She took the other bag (Thank God that the Buckleys have extra beds.), took a handful of Floo Powder, walked into the fireplace and threw it down, calling 'The Buckleys!' as well, and disappearing through the green flames.

Only a second later, she appeared in a living room with a bright wooden floor, a slightly cream-colored rug under the coffee table, with pink lilies in a vase on top.

"Val!"

Valerie had been staring at the nice interior of Amanda's home, not noticing said blonde storming towards her. Amanda now held onto Valerie as if her life depended on it, and Valerie slowly wrapped her own arms around her friend.

"Hey, Ammy."

Amanda let go and smiled brightly, taking Valerie's baggage and putting it next to a doorway, presumably leading to the hallway.

After the blonde returned from putting away Valerie's bags, she took the redhead's hand and pulled her over to the couch, which was only a hint darker than the rug beneath her feet. Molly cleaned her throat, making her presence known.

"So, I'll come and get you in three weeks?"

Valerie nodded and plastered on a smile, waiting for her mother to leave.

Once she did, the Gryffindor let out a sigh, making Amanda laugh. The redhead looked at the blonde in a confused way.

"What's so funny?"

Amanda smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I think it's funny how you have to play a role in front of your mother, who you've known your whole life, opposed to letting your guard down around me, and you've only known me for a year."

Amanda got up, and Valerie followed.

"I guess I do it without thinking... You're not a threat."

Amanda giggled.

"So you could take me on in a dual with no problem?"

Valerie looked worriedly.

"No, no! I didn't mean it that way!"

Amanda smiled.

"I was just teasing, Val."

Valerie cleared her throat awkwardly.

"So... Where are your parents?"

"They're bringing Chris over to Gabriel."

Valerie held up a hand.

"Wait. Who is Chris? And who is Gabriel?"

Amanda looked puzzled, and then smiled.

"Oh, right! You don't know! Chris is my brother, who's five years older than me, and Gabriel is his girlfriend."

Valerie nodded, understanding.

"Ah, I get it... Also, I have to say, you've got an amazing house..."

Valerie was dreamily looking at the Hall they were in. It was a big room, with stairs on both sides of the room that led up to the balcony hanging above them, having the doorway they'd just gone through right under it.

"Are you rich, Amanda?"

Amanda burst out laughing, taking Amanda's hand and pulling her upstairs, turning a corner into a hallway, entering the last door on their right. Once they entered, Valerie started staring again. A room, based on the color yellow. The bed sheets were yellow, the walls a bit lighter than the sheets, a medium color of wood to compliment it nicely, with a few splashes of black here and there. Valerie stared at Amanda.

"You chose this before you entered Hogwarts?"

Amanda blushed, but smiled as well.

"I did actually. It was extremely surprising to me when I entered the Hufflepuff common Room. Everything was JUST like my bedroom. It was weird."

At this point in time, Amanda let herself fall onto her bed, stretching a bit. Valerie looked at her blond friend with a questioning look.

"Hey, Ammy? When are Hal and Luna coming?"

Amanda sat straight up, looking at Valerie.

"They're coming tomorrow, and they'll leave one day before you. Luna didn't have to do that, but she told me it was for the best, so..."

Valerie nodded.

"So... On another note, where will we be sleeping?"

The Hufflepuff got up and pulled the Gryffindor by the hand again, showing her to the next room over. Amanda smiled when she turned on the lights, letting Valerie see the stairs that went up, probably to the attic. The blonde holding her hand turned to her.

"We'll be in the attic, because it's the most difficult place to be too loud."

After Amanda saw Valerie's confused expression, she continued:

"My parents thought that we would talk to each other after bedtime, so they let us stay in the attic, so they would get their sleep, and we would be free to do anything, except running or jumping, or making our music too loud."

Valerie smiled brightly, being extremely excited to be with her three friends for the next three weeks, non stop.

"Can we go get my bags?"

Amanda nodded with a smile, and together they went and got Valerie's stuff, brought it up to the attic, and once again, Valerie started staring at the room.

The room was mainly made of a slightly dark wood, with two walls that were painted white. Four beds were nicely put in the room, against the two wooden walls, and a big rug was between them. Onto one of the white walls, opposite of where they entered, a closet stood, ready to store clothes. Valerie immediately ran up to one of the beds and sat down on it.

"Mine!"

Amanda giggled, walking over to another bed and claiming it herself.

"Mine! Also, you can choose the sheets for the beds after dinner. I'll use my current ones."

Valerie nodded happily, taking her bag and pulling out her small, seemingly endless bag of money, and taking out a handful of Galleons. She counted out exactly 35 of them and put the rest back in her little bag. She put the 35 Galleons, that were currently in her hands, in a separate small box and walked to the window, opening it.

"Comet!"

Said owl came diving down into the window, landing on the bed gracefully. Valerie shook her head with a smile (Typically Malfoyish..). She walked over to the majestic eagle owl and tied the box to his feet. She also took out an envelope that she had readied beforehand, and tied it to comet's feet as well.

"Bring this order to McNair please, Comet."

The bird hooted happily and flew away. Amanda walked over to Valerie.

"Who's McNair?"

Valerie lifted her shoulders.

"I'm not completely sure, but he sells me great weapons for a pretty cheap price."

Amanda frowned.

"And he's trustworthy?"

Valerie nodded.

"I've asked a few questions, and he said that if I wanted he could meet me, but I told him it's fine as it is now."

Amanda nodded uncertainly.

"Okay... As long as you're not in danger... Let's go downstairs. I've got cravings for some chocolate right now."

Valerie laughed and walked downstairs with her friend, sitting down in the living room, while the blonde was in the kitchen, searching for some chocolate.

"Here!"

Said blonde came walking over to Valerie, holding a piece of chocolate, which Valerie gratefully took, when they heard a door open and close. Amanda jumped and ran down the hall.

"Mom, Dad! Valerie arrived while you were gone!"

Oh, really? Let's meet her then." a female voice sounded.

After Valerie heard this, she started blushing, looking at the doorway they would appear from. Seeing Amanda emerge, Valerie became a bit nervous, and the big piece of chocolate in her hands didn't help.

Out of the doorway came a woman with dirty blond, curly hair, casually dressed in jeans and a tank top. Next came a brown-haired man with a bit of facial hair, dressed in shorts and a shirt. The woman held out her hand for Valerie to shake.

"I'm Joanna Buckley, nice to meet you."

"Valerie Weasley, nice to meet you as well."

Then Amanda's dad held out his hand.

"Thomas Buckley, Amanda's told us a lot about you."

Valerie smiled.

"All good things, I hope."

The man, Thomas, nodded with a smile. The woman, Joanna, cut in.

"I'll start making dinner now. You two go have fun."

Amanda smiled and took Valerie's hand, pulling her up to the attic, where they chatted for some time before dinner.


	18. Chapter 17: Bickering

**AN**

Thank you, Julie, for your wonderful reviews! Also, ikr? :D Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Omg, Drago, I thought your review was gr8! Hope you'll enjoy!

Guest, thank you again! Hope you'll enjoy!

I'm sorry this is later than it should be! I had a bit of a writer's block, and I just went along as I wrote, not knowing where I would end up (other than this pretty much being a filler : / ) Also, first ever actual upgrade from K rated! We're getting up there. (But really, who expects 11-year olds to act like 18-year olds?)

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Val, wake up!"<p>

"... mmhh... Go away Gin..."

Someone laughed.

"Come on, Val! It's Ammy!"

Valerie opened her eyes, slowly adjusting to the light that was turned on, and she saw her blond friend, Amanda.

"Mornin'..."

Amanda smiled.

"You're not really a morning person, are you?"

Valerie shook her head and stretched.

"I guess I never really had a reason to get up early..."

As she said this, she rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas, yawning out loud.

"What time is it anyway?"

Amanda smiled at her red-haired friend.

"It's ten in the morning. Mom wants to have breakfast in half an hour."

Valerie nodded and got up to grab some clothes and necessary grooming equipment, and she followed her blond friend down one flight of stairs to the bathroom, where she was left alone to get ready for the day.

* * *

><p>Going downstairs after bringing her pajamas and grooming supplies to the attic, she walked into the kitchen, and that's where she saw a complete black and white interior, with an already set, black table. On the table were four sets of tableware, every set containing a knife, a plate, a mug, a table mat and an eggholder. Aside from the tableware, there were some foods that Valerie recognized, like milk, bread, sausage, bacon, etcetera, but there were also foods that she didn't recognize. Something that looked suspiciously like small chocolate bits, and some stuff looking like milk, but in a different color...<p>

"Has that been transfigured?"

Amanda's mother, who was standing in front of the stove, looked at Valerie like she was crazy, and Amanda burst out laughing.

"No, Val. Muggles can't do Transfiguration. We don't have magic."

"Oh. But what is that stuff then?"

"That's chocolate milk, and that right there is drinking yoghurt."

"You mean you drink yoghurt? Aren't you supposed to eat that with a spoon?"

Amanda smiled.

"This is yoghurt made for drinking, Val."

Valerie frowned and sat at the table.

"Muggles are weird."

Amanda laughed and sat down next to her friend.

"So, today Luna and Halia are arriving!"

Valerie brightened, and looked over at her Hufflepuff friend.

"What time will they arrive?"

"Around 2 pm, I guess?"

At that moment, Amanda's dad walked into the kitchen in a pair of pants and a loose grey shirt, hair completely disheveled.

"Hello dear."

He kissed his wife on the cheek, stroked Amanda's hair and sat down across from Valerie.

"Did you sleep well, Valerie?"

"Yes sir, thank you. You have a beautiful house by the way."

The man smiled gratefully, and his wife put a plate of rolls in front of him before sitting down next to her husband.

"So, you're also magical, right?"

Valerie looked up from her plate, where a roll was already lying half-eaten.

"I am, yes."

Amanda cut in.

"Valerie's from a family where everyone does magic, mom! I told you already!"

Her mother smiled at the blonde, and looked back at the red-haired girl.

"So, you have a big family, right?"

Valerie nodded with her mouth full of bacon, swallowing it with some difficulty and smiled awkwardly.

"I've got one sister and six brothers."

Amanda's mother froze for a second, and she only seemed to notice her shocked expression when her husband cleared his throat. She laughed awkwardly.

"But, umm, how can your parents have so many? I mean, isn't that difficult to keep up with?"

Valerie blushed harshly and looked at her plate, not wanting to answer Amanda's mother on that. Luckily, Amanda's dad answered for her.

"Isn't that a bit harsh, dear? She can't do anything about it, she's the youngest."

"She is?"

The man sighed.

"Amanda told us during the Christmas holidays! Don't tell me you forgot!"

While that was happening, Amanda took Valerie's hand, grabbed the plate with rolls and ran upstairs, Valerie running along with a bottle of milk in her hand.

Once they were in their temporary room, the attic, Valerie turned to Amanda, who was simply snacking on one of the rolls they brought.

"Are you not upset, Ammy?"

Amanda lifted her shoulders.

"Not really."

Valerie went and sat next to her blond friend.

"Are you sure?"

Amanda nodded, and smiled.

"It's not rare that they fight about the littlest of things. I'm just happy you're here, and that Luna and Halia are coming over in a few hours! Besides, it wasn't that bad."

Valerie nodded uncertainly.

"If you say so, Ammy... If you want to talk, please know that I'm right behind you, alright?"

Amanda smiled at Valerie.

"I'm behind you one-hundred percent of the way as well. Thank you, Val!"

Amanda threw her arms around her red-haired friend, and held on for dear life. Valerie now slowly snaked her arms around her friend, holding her until she would choose to let go.

* * *

><p>Going downstairs after eating all the rolls, and drinking all the milk they brought, they found out that both of Amanda's parents were gone, and with this new information, Amanda sighed.<p>

"They probably left for work. They're pretty busy..."

Valerie sighed as well, and put a hand on Amanda's head.

"Come on, let's go wait for Halia and Luna."

Amanda brightened considerably and the both of them went into the living room, watching tv as they waited.

* * *

><p>In the corner of her eyes, Valerie could see big green flames shooting out of the fireplace. A man with white, candy-floss-like hair stepped out of it, turned around, and waited for someone. Said someone stepped out a few seconds later, dressed in a seemingly normal skirt, but also having a shirt with candy plastered all over on.<p>

"Hello Amanda, Valerie. How are you today?"

Valerie shook her head and answered:

"I'm fine, Luna. How are you? Nice shirt by the way."

Luna smiled at her friend.

"I'm very well, and, thank you, Valerie."

Valerie smiled at her friend. The white-haired man, probably her father, petted her hair, said a 'see you in three weeks' and left through the fireplace again. Luna turned to her friends, smiled and stepped to the side a little bit. It was just in time, it seemed, because right then Halia's dad came stumbling through the fireplace, falling on his face, with an angry twelve-year-old right behind him. Valerie looked at her black-haired friend with confusion.

"Halia?"

Said black-haired witch reacted immediately, turning her head to Valerie, staring at her.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

Halia pointed to her dad.

"I pushed him through the fireplace. He thought it was necessary to start on a new wand at the time we were supposed to go."

Valerie nodded uncertainly.

"Alright... Where is your baggage?"

Halia froze for a second.

"Fuck."

She stormed back into the fireplace, calling out 'Forsyth's wand shop!', and disappearing through the big green flames.

Valerie looked around at the shocked faces of both Amanda and Luna (which was surprising on its own, Luna's surprise that is...), and then looked at Mr. Forsyth. The man seemed to have a nosebleed after falling face-first into the ground, but none of the girls made an attempt to pick him up. (Halia must have a reason, right?)

After a few minutes, the fire in the fireplace roared again, and Halia stepped out again, this time with a huge bag hanging from her shoulder.

"See ya in three weeks, dad."

Said father looked up at hearing his daughter talk to him, and he nodded, got up, and walked back into the fireplace, disappearing to his house.

Halia looked at the floor, which was stained with blood, with disgust and sighed.

"Hope you're not too scared of me now?"

Valerie was the only one who could break out of her surprise (although it seemed like Luna just didn't feel the need to say anything) as the black-haired witch asked her question.

"No one here is scared of you, Hal. Just a little surprised, that's all. Could you tell us why you were so angry?"

Halia shook her head.

"It's something about my mother, but I'd rather not say what it was exactly..."

Valerie got up and hugged Halia.

"I completely understand, but if you ever feel the need to talk, think of talking to me, please? As I've told Amanda already, I'm right behind her, and right behind you as well, alright?"

Halia nodded her head and slowly wrapped her own arms around the redhead. Said redhead looked over Halia's shoulder at Luna.

"That also counts for you, Luna."

Luna smiled and nodded.

"Know that I'm behind you as well, Valerie."

The red-haired girl nodded and smiled.

"Now who'd like a tour of the house?"


	19. Chapter 18: Birthday Bonus

**AN**

Julie, don't we all? XD Hope you'll enjoy!

Guest, Thank you as well! Hope you'll enjoy!

Johny, I'm sorry it seems that way to you. Right after publishing this chapter, I'll put a disclaimer in the first chapter, although, and, absolutely no offense, I would think people would expect a lot of storysetting in a story where a Weasley ends up fucking Voldemort... Its probably my imagination :P Still, it wouldn't be any fun reading the first chapter, then a HUGE skip to the middle of sexual interaction between the dark lord and the innocence you just witnessed before. Things need to change for such a thing to happen, and with that, I mean: A lot has to change. Besides, if that huge skip would've happened, no one could probably identify with Valerie. Still, no offense to you, or anyone for that matter, just me reviewing your review XD. Have a good day, since I'm not sure whether you'd read on, but if so, I hope you'll enjoy it.

I am so, so, so extremely sorry this is so much later than normal! I guess I didn't really find much of a drive... Anyway, chapter after this, second year starts! I'm pumped for that!

**AN**

* * *

><p>It was a simple Friday morning on July the 23rd, with Amanda, Halia, Luna and Valerie silently eating breakfast after Ammy's mother had gone to work.<p>

"Good morning kiddo's!" said Amanda's dad, who just walked into the room.

All four girls replied with a 'Good morning' and the man sat down at the table, putting some bacon on his plate.

Before he could start a conversation however, he could hear hooting from the nearby window. Valerie jumped up and ran over to the window, opening it and letting her very own spotted eagle owl in, which, on his turn, flew over to Luna and settled in front of her, showing off the big, wrapped package he'd been carrying. Luna petted the beautiful owl on its breast.

"Is that for me, Comet?"

The owl hooted loudly and flapped with its wings, as if saying 'Of course it is! Duh!'. Comet's reaction to her made Luna smile.

"Thank you."

After saying this, the blond Ravenclaw set to unwrapping her birthday gift. After a few minutes of pulling paper off of her present, as it was wrapped in loads of paper, she finally got hold of it. A beautiful longbow, rubies set in its wood, slightly tangled with a couple of arrows and a quiver, laying by the bow's side, also set with a ruby.

"It's beautiful..."

Valerie smiled brightly.

"We'll need to practise with our weapons soon, don't we? By the way, it's been charmed, so when the arrows come to a complete stop relative to the environment they're in, they will activate their own kind of Apparation, sending themselves back into your quiver."

Luna seemed to be simply speechless, turning the bow around and around. This made Valerie smile, but as soon as she smiled, all eyes were turning towards her, looking at her as if thinking hard on something. The redhead was left wondering what they were thinking about, when suddenly, it dawned on her.

"Guys... You don't have to get me anything... I'm fine."

Amanda got up and leaned over the table, giving a serious stare towards Valerie.

"We SHOULD get you something, Val! Otherwise we wouldn't fit together with our group! Besides, you were the one who bought all our presents! We've all got charmed weapons, why wouldn't you get one?!"

Valerie stared at her blond friend with saucer-like eyes.

"I... I didn't realise it was that important to you..."

Amanda's expression softened slightly, but still maintained her previous seriousness.

"They're ways of bonding us in my opinion. We've been given gifts that represent us, and one makes up for the faults of the other! I've learned the past year that our friendship is like that! So please, let us give you the weapon we need to finish off our defense, and our group of friends!"

Practically everyone looked at Amanda flabbergasted, Valerie the most. She really hadn't been expecting one of her best friends to start saying such things... (Wait...)

"... best friend...?"

All eyes turned towards Valerie once more, showing slight surprise, although it didn't overtake the surprise they had just now. Amanda leaned in further.

"Val?"

Valerie looked up, smiling at her blond friend.

"... Yeah... We're best friends, aren't we?"

Amanda looked Valerie in the eye, still wearing her serious expression, but she slowly grew a bright smile.

"We are!"

Valerie nodded happily.

"We are! The weapons, they represent each of us, like you said!"

Halia cut in.

"So, can we buy your birthday gift now?"

Valerie froze for a second, after which she slowly turned to her black-haired friend. Before she could say something, however, she was cut off by Amanda.

"Let's get in touch with her contact!"

Halia nodded, and she and Amanda got up, running to the attic while Comet was sitting on Luna's shoulder, who'd just gotten up as well, and said blonde simply walked out of the kitchen, most likely following her two friends. Valerie sighed.

"I didn't know you used weaponry in the Wizarding World."

Valerie looked up to see Amanda's dad, still sitting at the table, looking very interested in what had just happened.

"Normally we don't, but I personally think that it's a good idea, as there are a lot of spells that can protect from other spells, but not from actual weaponry. Witches or wizards have to have knowledge of such spells, and they're usually not prepared to use spells that reflect physical attacks, as no one uses weaponry there."

Amanda's dad nodded, seemingly following everything.

"So, you mean the four of you need the extra safety?"

Valerie got up and walked over to the kitchen door.

"Probably." she said, turning her head for a simple second, before continuing, and as she walked through the door, she thought about everything her parents had told her. Things like: 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is evil!', 'He didn't really die back when everyone thought he'd died.' and 'If he ever comes back, be sure to be prepared!'

Valerie leaned against a wall and sighed. She wouldn't forget about the 'Don't you dare become friends with Slytherins! They're bad people, and they'll work for You-Know-Who when they grow up! You'll get influenced!' The redhead giggled to herself. She was wondering how long it would take Ginny to tell her mother that her twin sister is best friends with a Slytherin, even after she'd gotten caught once. That would be quite hilarious, but also extremely boring after the umpteenth time. She made a mental notice to herself to stay at school during the Christmas break, although she already wanted to do that.

She nodded to herself. That seemed like the best idea she'd had. Besides, she would probably spend it with at least one of her best friends, based on their reactions when they went back to Hogwarts last year. Speaking of her friends, what were they planning? Valerie started thinking out loud.

"... Something to complete the group..."

* * *

><p>"Happy birthday, Val!"<p>

Said redhead was lying in her bed, pillow on her head, groaning a messed up 'Not right now...' and turning her body around slightly. Someone sighed.

"Then you can't have your present!"

Valerie groaned in annoyance, but slowly got up, lifting the pillow and flinching at the amount of light in the room.

"Where..?"

Amanda grinned.

"It'll come by, sometime during the day."

Valerie gave her a dry expression and got up.

"You're the worst."

Amanda smiled.

"I know, Val! See you downstairs for breakfast!"

Valerie nodded with a tired grin, slowly getting ready for the day.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, the redhead went downstairs to see her three friends, all of them pretty much grinning, and Valerie couldn't help but smile.<p>

"What are you guys planning?"

Amanda skipped up to Amanda, poked her nose, and said:

"Can't tell you yet! It's a secret."

Valerie, while rubbing her nose, sat down at the table, piling foods onto her plate.

"Be that way, Ams, I'll have some breakfast while you're busy."

After she said that, the doorbell rang, and Amanda reacted immediately, running out of the kitchen to open the front door.

After a few minutes she walked back into the kitchen, followed by an adult man sporting a black mustache and short black hair. The man walked straight towards Valerie with a wicked smile on his face.

"So you're the little Weasley-girl, who often buys weaponry from me?"

Valerie thought for a second, after which she felt a smile covering her face.

"You, You're Mr. Macnair! It's good to see you sir!"

Valerie got up and held out a hand towards the man, which the man took hold of with a very tight grip. He smiled at the young girl.

"So, it's your birthday today, hmm?"

Valerie nodded with a quick 'Yes, sir!'. Seeing this the man smiled even more as he took a small, but relatively long box out of his pocket and performed an Enlargement Charm on it, growing it to about 3 feet long. After putting his wand away, he handed the box over to the red-haired girl, and she immediately started unpacking it.

After she'd been able to open the box, she had to deal with a load of wrapping, and after that, she laid her hands on a wooden shaft, going up into a steel ball-like form, with spikes pointing out of it. the tips of the spike, as well as a part of the shaft, were made out of an orange-looking stone. Valerie picked up the weapon and found it was pretty heavy. With the weapon in hand, she turned a questioning look to Mr. Macnair, who answered to her silent questions.

"It's called a Morning Star, and, while this one ís shorter than most, you should be able to handle it well. The stones laid in it are called Sardonyx, your birthstone. Any more questions?"

Valerie shook her head, signalling a 'no', as she took a good look at the heavy weapon in her arms.

Macnair came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ever have a question, you know how to reach me."

With this, the man Apparated away, leaving behind one speechless girl, one girl shocked about the sound the Apparation made, and two pleased girls.

Valerie stroke the steel of her weapon.

(This will get interesting...)


	20. Chapter 19: Going back

**AN**

Guest, I'm sorry, but I'm keeping to the timeline of the books. That means that the end of Harry's 4th year is when Voldy first appears in wizarding world, so in Val's 3rd year. That means quite a bit more storybuilding, sorry. Although, I do have a certain thing in mind... Hope you'll enjoy! XD

Julie, omg, I love you so much! 3 I absolutely LOVED your review 3 Hope you'll continue to post your fantastic reviews, and that you'll enjoy this chapter as well!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"It'd be so nice to be a bird and to just fly away, wouldn't it?"<p>

Valerie was currently looking out the window of her room at The Leaky Cauldron, focusing on two small, blue birds that were flying around each other, landing every few seconds, but taking off almost immediately again. Their little 'dance' was so cute to watch, it made Valerie smile.

Once the birds flew out of sight, Valerie got up and sat down on her bed, checking whether everything was packed and ready to go for the fifth time today. After she was satisfied for the final time, she grabbed everything and went downstairs, as they would be leaving for King's Cross Station soon.

Reaching the ground floor, she saw the rest of her family, with most of them sporting a slight tan from their trip to Egypt, and Harry Potter and Hermione (I finally learned her name! Achievement!), with Percy proudly showing off his Head Boy Badge. Said redhead took out his wand and performed a Levitation Charm on Valerie's baggage, making them float over to his own bags and putting them there. Valerie walked over to him with a smile.

"You don't have to create a mountain in here, you know? It's a bit too small."

Percy smirked at his little sister.

"But then we use an Engorgement Charm, sis."

Valerie laughed and pushed her brother softly.

"You're such a nerd Percy."

Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Who of us two got an O in Transfigurations without studying at all during last year, Val?"

Valerie blushed a bright pink.

"My only O was in Transfigurations! You got O's in all of your twelve classes! I only had seven classes!"

Percy ruffled his sister's hair.

"But sissy, you'll have better results once it actually has an impact on you if you do."

Valerie sighed.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Are you excited to see your friends again?"

The female redhead brightened considerably and smiled."

"Very!"

Percy smiled, and before he could say anything else, the others were slowly pooling out of the room. Valerie made a move to pick up her bags, but Percy was quick in using the Lavitation Charm again, this time on both of their baggage, and they walked outside with their stuff floating behind them.

The two of them got into one of the Ministry's cars, that were there for Harry's protection, now sitting with Harry, Hermione and Ron.

While Valerie wasn't fond of Ron, and it felt like Ron disliked her even more, she let out a sigh of relief, because at least Percy wouldn't be sitting with Fred and George, who would go on and on, trying to annoy her favorite brother.

The ride to King's Cross was very uneventful, with Ron seemingly not wanting to talk in the presence of Percy and Valerie, and the other four either feeling too awkward or just not feeling the need to talk at all.

Getting out of the cars at King's Cross, the family, and Harry and Hermione, made their way over to the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, where Mr. Weasley felt the need to go through to the platform in pairs. First were him together with Harry, casually leaning on the barrier. After they fell through, Percy and Valerie smirked at each other and quickly started to run, going through the barrier quickly, as they heard their mother's rage at them going without her telling them.

After getting through, the first thing Valerie saw were her father and Harry's slightly shocked faces, which was making Valerie smirk. She looked up to Percy, who was a bit pink in the face, and his eyes were seemingly scanning the crowd.

"Ah, there's Penelope!"

As he said this, he smoothed out his hair, unconciously brightening his pink cheeks and walked towards her with his chest puffed out, making his new badge stand out. Valerie decided to follow her brother to his girlfriend, so she'd get to know the Ravenclaw. The girl they were now walking towards had long, curly, brown hair, and, once she saw the two of them, she smiled and waved, and walked over to the two Weasleys.

"Hi Percy! Good to see you!"

Percy smiled and pushed his chest out a little bit more. His girlfriend laughed.

"Oh, you're Head Boy! What a surprise!"

Percy gave his girlfriend a dry look.

"Don't be so sarcastic, Penelope."

The girl just laughed again.

"Alright, Percy. Let's celebrate it!"

As she said this, Penelope leaned towards Percy for a kiss, after which Valerie looked away, feeling like she was intruding on something. Before she could walk away though, her brother called her name and she looked towards him again. Her brother smiled.

"Val, this is my girlfriend Penelope, and Penelope, this is my sister Valerie."

Penelope grinned from ear to ear and held out her hand for Valerie to grab, which the redhead did, and her brother's girlfriend smiled at her.

"I've heard so much about you, Valerie."

Valerie smirked at the girl.

"All good things I hope?"

Penelope laughed again and turned to Percy.

"I like her. Can we keep her?"

Percy smiled and ruffled his girlfriend's hair.

"Just let her be, Penelope."

He then looked towards Valerie and smiled.

"See you at Hogwarts, Val!"

Valerie waved, smiling at the now leaving couple, and decided to search for her friends or an empty compartment as well.

* * *

><p>"Ah, Val!"<p>

Our little redhead hadn't even entered the compartment when a certain blond girl started wrapping herself all around the Gryffindor.

"Ugh, hi Ammy, how're you doing?"

Amanda unwrapped herself from Valerie slowly and went back into the compartment she was sharing with Luna.

"I missed you SO much!"

Valerie shook her head while smiling, and turned towards Luna.

"Good morning, Luna."

The blond smiled.

"Good morning to you too, Valerie."

Amanda looked at Valerie sadly.

"I'm still sorry you weren't able to meet my brother, Val."

Valerie waved her hands in a nonchalant way.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Ams. It's not your fault, ánd I wasn't even too keen on meeting him anyway, so there's no losses, right?"

Amanda frowned.

".. Mhh, I guess so..."

It was that exact moment that Halia burst in, gasping for breath, dropping two of her bags on the ground and holding herself up on her knees. Valerie was a bit shocked to see her friend like that, completely out of breath. (She usually has a good amount of stamina, right?)

"Hal? What's happened?"

The black-haired girl looked up at Valerie.

"My father is what happened! The idiot felt the need to open his store before driving me to King's Cross, and so we were fifteen minutes late! FIFTEEN FUCKING MINUTES!"

Amanda got up and put her hands on Halia's shoulders.

"Calm down, Hal. You're here now, right? So while the course of action wasn't very great, the outcome is good, right?"

Halia nodded reluctantly, slowly sitting down next to Luna.

"Have you guys heard?"

Both Valerie and Luna looked at Halia in a curious manner. Halia sighed.

"You know, about Sirius Black escaping Azkaban?"

Valerie sighed as well.

"My parents have talked about it non-stop ever since it happened... It's annoying."

Amanda cut in.

"Wait, so Sirius Black is a wizard?"

Halia facepalmed, and Valerie sighed.

"Yeah, he is. And Hal, don't overreact like that. Even muggles have been alerted of Black's existence. People here really want to catch him."

Amanda looked out of the window, thinking, while Halia took out a book about hexes. Luna started reading The Quibbler, and Valerie leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and slowly falling asleep...


	21. Chapter 20: New sides

**AN**

Julie, I know right? Also, I realized just now that my /\-thing gets deleted (pointing to the left). The site doesn't want to accept me making hearts with a 3... Anyway, Hope you'll enjoy! I had a blast writing the chapter XD

**AN**

* * *

><p>(September 25th, huh?)<p>

Valerie was currently sitting on her bed, looking at the calendar she was holding, which showed today's date. Nothing was planned for today, as the calendar had been telling Valerie these past few minutes, and Valerie only sighed before thinking back to what's been happening:

Firstly, Sirius Black escapes and is apperently going after Harry to finish his job of killing the Potters, or something like that. Secondly, Dementors have been set up around the school, guarding against and searching for said Black. Thirdly, Amanda has kept up the record of screaming everytime she sees one of the dark hooded creatures.

Valerie sighed and got up, readying herself for the day.

(At least I don't have classes on saturdays.)

* * *

><p>"Ah, Luna!"<p>

Valerie ran up to her blond best friend and sat down next to her. Said blonde looked up and smiled at the redhead.

"Good morning, Valerie."

"Good morning to you too, Luna! Do you have anything planned for today?"

Luna stared at her Gryffindor friend with a serious expression.

"I have to visit someone. Do you want to come?"

Valerie nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course, Luna! Also, where are Hal and Ammy?"

Luna popped a bit of toast into her mouth and chewed for a few seconds.

"I think they're studying in the library."

Valerie put her head on the table.

"We've only been back at school for a month, and they're already studying?"

Luna looked at Valerie with her head tilted to the side, as said redhead lifted her head up and started to eat.

"Well, they do already have a test coming up for History of Magic."

Valerie sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Who are you visting?"

Luna smiled.

"A friend of mine."

Valerie stuffed her mouth full while nodding, wondering who they would be visiting.

* * *

><p>"We need to go by the kitchens first."<p>

Valerie gave a slightly confused look, but nodded and followed Luna, not knowing where the kitchens were.

As the two of them went through a door to the right of the main staircase in the entrance hall, and walked through a corridor, going down a staircase, they eventually ended up in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit. Once there, Luna stuck out her hand and... tickled the pear? The pear started giggling and Valerie could hear Luna doing the same. After a few seconds of the pear giggling, it became a door handle and Luna used it to open the painting-door.

After opening it, though, the two of them were bombarded with a horde of House Elves. While Valerie was a dumbstruck with how many House Elves were working in the kitchens, Luna was only giggling, slowly getting through the flow of Elves. Valerie mimicked her moves, so she could also enter the kitchens, even though it was a bit slow, walking through the huge crowd of smaller creatures.

Finally inside, Luna gave one of the House Elves a piece of parchment, and she then came to stand next to Valerie, who was still quite dumbstruck.

"They're nice, aren't they?"

Valerie nodded, and Luna giggled.

"It's your first time entering the kitchens."

Valerie nodded again.

"Yeah. Fred and George knew where it was, but wouldn't tell me."

Luna smiled, and right then, a big bag was held up to her.

"Misstress Lovegood, your food is ready."

Luna took the bag and stroked the head of the Elf giving her the bag.

"Thank you, Woppy."

The Elf looked up at Luna in an almost sad way.

"Mistress too nice, Woppy doesn't deserve such kindness..."

Luna smiled once more and took Valerie's hand and left, waving at the Elf.

"She's sweet, isn't she?"

Valerie smiled at Luna.

"Yeah, she is, but one question: Where are we heading now?"

At that question, Valerie thought she was imagining things, because Luna almost seemed to get a mischievous gleam in her eyes. All the redhead could do was shake her head and hope she wasn't starting to see things.

After getting outside, the two of them walked through the snow to some kind of destination, and Valerie could not fit everything together. Before she could really puzzle pieces together though, Luna pushed the bag she was carrying into Valerie's arms.

"Wait here, please."

After that, the blond girl skipped over to the huge, tree standing in front of her, and to Valerie's surprise, it moved. As it was pulling back from Luna, said blonde looked back to the redhead with a lighthearted smile, and then started to run. The tree, which had apperently been preparing to attack, threw it's branches on the ground and whipped the air with its vines, trying to hit the little Ravenclaw running and dodging. The girl took out her wand while she dodged one of the branches and performed a Levitation Charm, holding the vine above her in place, protecting her from incoming attacks. After that, she held up her wand to keep her Charm in place, and slowly walked over to the tree trunk, bending down to push on a knot in the trunk, and the whole tree went back to how it was before, and Luna let her Charm go, as she held the knot in the tree pressed. Valerie finally realised her mouth had been hanging open.

"What was that?!"

Luna smiled.

"Come on, Valerie. We still need to visit my friend."

Valerie nodded and looked around her for anyone who might notice them. Not seeing anyone, she ran up to Luna.

"What happens now?"

Luna pointed at a hole right under the tree.

"We go through."

Valerie nodded again and crawled into the hole, only to find out it was a bit slippery and steep, so she ended up sliding the rest of the way, making sure the bag filled with food was safe.

Landing head first on the ground, she kept the bag up, and because of that, it had minimal damage. The redhead got up and brushed herself off. Turning back, she saw Luna coming down the 'slide' and landing on her feet elegantly. The blonde smiled.

"You'll get the hang of it."

Valerie sighed.

"I hope so..."

Luna grabbed Valerie's hand and pulled her through the tunnel they were in, eventually ending up at the foot of a staircase, leading up to a trapdoor. The blonde let go of the redhead's hand, walking up the stairs and opening the trapdoor. After going through halfway, she looked towards Valerie.

"Come on, Valerie."

Said redhead nodded and went up the stairs, following her friend. Once the two were upstairs, in some kind of living room, they were spotted by a big, black dog, which came sprinting towards the two of them, but, instead of biting, the dog slowed down and he started wagging his tail. This was making Luna smile.

"Hello there, Sirius."

The dog woofed, and Valerie froze. (Sirius?! As in, Sirius Black, the killer working for Voldemort?!)

"Luna? Why did you call the dog 'Sirius'?"

Luna smiled.

"Sirius, this is Valerie Weasley. She's a friend."

The dog walked over to our little redhead and sniffed her hand, after which he backed up again. Luna put her hand on the dog's head.

"Valerie, don't scream, and don't tell anyone."

The redhead nodded, and right before her very eyes, the dog changed into a human with big mass of filthy, matted, black hair hanging to his elbows, with yellow teeth and a very skinny body. Valerie took a step back in fear.

"Are... Are you really Sirius Black?"

The man nodded and smirked and then turned to Luna and took the bag of food from her.

"Thanks as always."

The blonde ignored the grown man and skipped over to the couch, and sat down. Valerie followed her friend and sat next to her, still quite nervous, and keeping a hand on her wand in case something went wrong.

"Why did you change from dog into human?"

Sirius looked at the redhead asking the question and smiled.

"I'm an Animagus. Been so since fifth year at Hogwarts, in fact."

Valerie tilted her head to the side.

"Animagus?"

Sirius nodded.

"It's when someone learns to change into an animal at will."

"Any animal?"

Sirius shook his head.

"The animal you become represents your soul. I, for example, become a dog because my soul is most like a dog."

Valerie's mind was overflowing with new questions.

"How would you know what animal you'd become?"

Sirius thought for a few seconds before answering.

"You just try it, I guess, although you could learn the Patronus Charm beforehand, but that's a bit too difficult for someone from second year..."

Valerie leaned in a bit further.

"Could you teach me how to become an animagus?"

Sirius froze for a second.

"How would someone from second year have the skills needed to become an Animagus?!"

Valerie smirked.

"I got an O in Transfigurations last year."

Sirius facepalmed at her comment.

"It's not that difficult to achieve in first year."

Luna cut in:

"She was the best in our year, and even next to some previous first years."

Valerie nodded.

"And I'll read or do whatever you ask, and in return you get information or something..?"

Sirius thought for a few minutes.

"You'll help me get in contact with Harry?"

Valerie nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course!"

"You'll bring me food?"

Valerie continued her enthusiastic nodding.

"Yes!"

Sirius sighed.

"Alright, but I'm not promising anything."

Valerie smiled brightly.

"Are you sure?!"

Sirius nodded. At this, Valerie got up and jumped a few times, fistpumping the air and shaking Sirius's hand.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll try my best!"

Sirius smiled at the redhead.

"I will as well. Will you meet me right here, same time next week?"

Valerie nodded.

"Alright!"

The man smiled.

"Take along you're brother's Transfigurations book. We need N.E.W.T. Level Transfigurations at the very least."

Valerie nodded.

"I'll take care of it! See ya in a week, Sirius!"

"See you in a week, Valerie."

* * *

><p><strong>AN<strong>

As my sweet reviewer has pointed out, it's a bit weird how Valerie accepts Sirius so easily. I have to say, mentioning why has slipped my mind :/ Stupid me ; D Anyway, as pointed out in earlier chapters, Valerie is pretty sure Luna doesn't do anything without a reason, and she seems to have good judgement. So, if she trusts Sirius and wants to help him, and she brings one of her best friends to him, who could easily go and out him, she knows what she's doing. Also, did I mention he was an Animagus? If so, you could easily tell that Valerie was very excited, and just like the last bit of the fanfic, Valerie's brain is completely full of thought only based on learning to become an Animagus.

So, there's the two reasons: One, she trusts Luna's judgement, Two, She doesn't even think about the... 'murderer' sitting opposite her. Hope this clears things up! Se ya in a few days! XD

**AN**


	22. Chapter 21: sigh

**AN**

Julie, you don't know whether she's actually able to become one o_O Hope you'll enjoy the chapter

AlleyCat, Heeerre you gooo XD Hope you'll enjoy!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"Ah, good morning, Valerie!"<p>

Said redhead turned around, seeing her Hufflepuff friend walking up to the Gryffindor table, where our little Gryffindor was sitting.

"Oh, hello, Ammy!"

"You're staying home for Christmas, right?"

Valerie nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, I am."

"Miss Weasley?"

Valerie turned around, seeing her Head of House standing right behind her.

"Yes Professor McGonagall?"

The teacher smiled.

"Are you staying at school during the holidays?"

Valerie nodded.

"Yes, Professor."

Professor McGonagall nodded, moving on to the next Gryffindor to ask the same thing again and again.

"Ah, hello Valerie and Amanda. It's a nice day, isn't it?"

Valerie turned around, smiling when she saw who was currently sitting next to her.

"Hi Luna! It is, by the way."

Luna smiled.

"It seems you're staying at Hogwarts during the holidays. Sadly, I have to help my father with fieldwork, so I won't be here. Could you make sure the Blibbering Humdinger is taken care of while I'm away?"

Valerie thought for a few seconds, crossing out possibilities of what Luna could mean with Blibbering Huminger, when suddenly...

(… Sirius!)

"Of course, Luna. Wouldn't want him to die on us."

Luna popped a piece of toast into her mouth, which left Valerie wondering when she'd cut the toast in pieces. When the blonde looked back to the redhead, she smiled.

"I trust you'll keep him entertained either way. Amanda, let's leave for the dungeons."

Amanda's eyes flew to Luna, and then her head hit the table.

"Ugh... Not Potions..."

Luna giggled slightly and skipped away from her original sitting place, heading out of the hall. Amanda groaned once more, but managed to get up and moving, slowly leaving the Great Hall.

Now Valerie was left, wondering whether Halia had just skipped breakfast, as she'd done before once in a while, especially now that it was around the time of her mother's birthday, or whether something worse was going on. Valerie decided to just get up and get going to Herbology. Maybe Halia was there...

* * *

><p>Luckily, Halia was there during class, having slept in for a bit, as she'd apparently been reading a few too many books about hexes, curses, defenses and overall Magical Martial Arts late at night.<p>

* * *

><p>It had been December 9th, marking just a simple Thursday, and also marking Halia's birthday! While Valerie hadn't planned anything huge, as they still hadn't practised with their weapons, she presented Halia with a few extra books, such as: 'Jinxes for the Jinxed', 'The Dark Arts Outsmarted' and 'Self-Defensive Spellwork'.<p>

She seemed very happy with some more stuff to let her skip breakfast, so Valerie was satisfied.

Right now, Valerie was in her bed, thinking about everything that'd happened the past few weeks, from when McGonagall asked her whether she was staying at school, up till now. It was December the 20th, making it the day after her friends had left. Luna went out on fieldwork with her dad, Halia had some kind of birthday celebration for her mother with her father, and Amanda's parents had decided to go on a skiing trip with their two kids.

Valerie rolled out of bed, got up and looked around. She was the only one in her Dormitory, both Ginny and Lucy had gone home, and Valerie had almost wanted to celebrate that she'd have the room for herself, if she didn't have to miss her friends. She sighed.

(I guess I'll just have to go annoy Sirius, huh?)

The redhead smirked while getting ready, and once she was ready, she packed a few books she'd gotten from the library, went down to the kitchen and grabbed some food for both her and Sirius. From there, she managed not to be seen by anyone while going outside.

She moved towards the Whomping Willow, seeing it react to her presence, preparing its attack by moving itself back a bit so it could hit hard. Valerie shook her head and sighed. (I've done this too often than to be freaked out by you, you stupid tree...)

After this little speech to the tree, although it couldn't hear it, even if the Gryffindor would've spoken out loud, the little redhead lifted her wand, looked over her shoulders to check whether anyone was around, and after making sure there wasn't anybody, she performed Transfiguration on one of the sticks, making it some kind of hand, which she levitated over to the knot in the tree and pressed it, calming the tree down.

After she was certain the tree was completely calm, she kept her levitation going for a little while longer, while she walked over to the hole under the tree and cast a 'Finite Incantatem', after which she jumped into the hole quickly, as the tree began moving again.

Valerie was now able to land perfectly at the bottom of the 'slide', as she did just now. After she checked that her bag of food was still fully loaded and ready to be emptied onto plates, she ran alond the dirty underground path to the Shrieking Shack, where Sirius resided.

Opening the trapdoor, she crawled into the living room, putting the bag of food onto the table and calling: "You here, Sir?"

After she didn't get an answer, she just lifted her shoulders slightly, setting the table as she waited.

When she was done, and Sirius still hadn't said hello, she grabbed her wand and slowly walked up the staircase, making sure that, if there was some kind of murderer in there, she was prepared... (At least a little bit...)

As she opened the door to Sirius's bedroom, she just burst out laughing. The man everyone thought of as a murdering lunatic, the man who was some kind of mentor to Valerie, he was sleeping softly, rounding up against some kind of old teddybear, looking just like a little kid.

Valerie broke his sleep with her laughter however, and the first thing he did was grab for his wand and point it at her, but Valerie, having already gotten used to it from her going to this place early on Saturday mornings, just pushed the wand down and smiled.

"Good morning, Sirius! Ready to teach me again today?"

Sirius took a look at the muggle clock hanging by the doorway, which Luna had brought him, and groaned.

"You're even earlier than usual..."

Valerie smiled even brighter.

"I thought we could have breakfast together!"

Sirius just pulled his blankets up to his face.

"Go away so I can get ready then..."

Valerie smiled.

"Sure!"

As she said this, she went back downstairs, making sure everything was still there, and she took out one of the Transfiguration books she'd taken along, and started reading from where she left off.

She'd gone through a couple of books with Sirius, and while it was exceptionally difficult at first, Valerie did surprisingly manage to Transfigure a hedgehog into a pincushion, which was fourth year Transfiguration. It did take a few hours of practice, getting it right, but it was all worth it when she saw Sirius's surprised look, and when she felt how fulfilling it felt to be able to do something even some fourth years have trouble with.

Right now, she was reading some fourth year's theory on Transfiguration, as Sirius had told her that it was most important to know she had the skills, but also the amount of knowledge on the subject. Actually, he said it was more important than knowing the practical skills at the moment, because they'd be able to move on more easily if she knew how things worked and she'd practice during her own time.

Valerie sighed. At the end of the Christmas Holidays she'd be given a theoritical test on fourth year Transfigurations, and then about a week later, Sirius would test her practical knowledge on some kind of spell in the books, so she'd have to practise a bit for that.

"Hey, Valerie."

Valerie looked up from her book.

"Took you long enough, Sirius."

He sighed.

"Let's sit down and chat about some stuff, alright?"

Valerie nodded.

"Sure thing."

She put her book down and walked over to the table, sitting down opposite of Sirius. Said man bit on a piece of toast.

"So, why are you here for breakfast?"

Valerie looked up at the ragged man.

"My friends have gone home for Christmas, so there isn't anything for me to do at the castle, and people would find it weird to see me with far too advanced Transfiguration books in the Common room, or Great Hall. Especially now, because there are less people, it will be easier to see someone doing something suspicious. Also, studying during holidays when you're in Gryffindor, people think it's the weirdest thing. They start staring at you in such a weird way, it's annoying... Also, I though you could use some fresh breakfast. You're usually lasting a week on the amount we bring you, and that can't be good for you, could it..?"

Sirius lifted his eyebrows and stared at Valerie for a moment.

"I had that when I was young as well. Remember, I learned how to become an Animagus during my Hogwarts years as well. Although, you are about three years younger than when me and my friends learned."

Valerie lifted one eyebrow.

"But I do have the talent."

Sirius sighed, shook his head and seemingly ignored Valerie's statement, making Valerie frown and she started chewing on a piece of bacon angrily.

(These are going to be a long two weeks...)


	23. Chapter 22: No dumb blondes here

**AN**

Julie, I could spoil what's gonna happen, but I won't. It wouldn't be any fun XD Hope you'll enjoy!

AlleyKat, Hope you enjoy as well ; ))

**AN**

* * *

><p>"This may actually work..."<p>

Valerie stared at the man who said this, looking smug. She'd just Transfigured a mouse into a hamster on her first try, to the amazement of Sirius.

"Didn't expect it?"

Sirius stared at the little twelve-year old girl looking at him.

"You're only in second year..."

Valerie put her hands on her hips.

"Told ya that I have a talent for Transfigurations."

Sirius undid the Transfiguration and let the mouse go.

"Not even one twelve-year old kid has ever even tried doing magic that 14-year olds have trouble with..."

Valerie smirked.

"You didn't realize that I was good when you corrected my tests? Speaking about that by the way, you still need to give me my score on the one from last week."

Sirius sighed.

"Well, I corrected it, and there were quite a few mistakes..."

Valerie sighed.

"As we've seen before, most of my 'mistakes' are small details and remembering numbers, Sirius. Just go ahead and tell me my score."

Sirius sighed again.

"Well, Valerie, I checked and you came out with 83% correct."

Valerie fistpumped the air.

"That's even better than the third year test!"

Sirius lifted an eyebrow.

"That's only because you watch your spelling and grammar now."

Valerie smirked.

"I know I did great, and you know as well, don't you?"

Sirius ignored her question.

"So, when are we doing fake O.W.L.s? I'd personally say in about two months. Is that alright for you?"

Valerie nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, it is! Do I need any new books?"

Sirius shook his head.

"No, the books you have right now should be able to get you through the theory of fifth year."

Valerie smiled brightly.

"Thank you, Sirius!"

Sirius waved it away.

"No worries. Anyway, it's getting late, and you should be heading back to Hogwarts. Dinner is coming up."

Valerie smiled and nodded, after which she opened the trapdoor, leading her into a tunnel, which let her appear right next to the Whomping Willow. While she wandered back to the castle, she had a smile on her face and thought about becoming an Animagus. Things like: 'What kind of animal would I be?', 'Would I be a predator, or an animal that's preyed on?' and 'Would I get to know more about myself by seeing what animal actually represents my soul?'

"Hello Valerie."

Valerie looked up and saw Luna skipping over to her, and the redhead's thoughts were gone.

"Ah, hello Luna!"

Luna smiled at Valerie.

"I'm happy for you."

Valerie smiled at Luna.

"Thank you!"

Luna smiled back, and the two walked in silence for a few minutes. Then, just before they entered the castle, Luna said:

"Don't be seen, it'll cause implications later. I'll see you at dinner!"

At this, the blonde skipped away, leaving Valerie thinking on what the blonde said. (What?) She had no idea what Luna's words meant. ('Don't be seen, it'll cause implications later'?)

Valerie heard a rumble, looked down at her stomach and smiled.

(It seems like I'm hungry, huh? Let's leave that question for another time then.)

She jumped once and ran inside, quickly joining Luna at the Ravenclaw table, piling her food on her plate and stuffing her mouth full.

* * *

><p>"What were you thinking, Sirius!"<p>

Said man scowled at the red-haired girl that said this.

"Don't start this."

Valerie frowned at Sirius.

"Why did you enter the castle last week? They upped the security now, and I almost wasn't able to get here."

Sirius made it obvious he was ignoring Valerie at this moment by whistling and looking everywhere except her. Valerie sighed.

"Just remember that we have three weeks left until my test for fifth year theory."

Sirius stared at her in a bored fashion.

"Sure. See you next week."

Valerie nodded frowning, and left the Shrieking Shack, wondering whether she'd get into the castle unnoticed. She was also still thinking about what Luna said those five weeks ago: 'Don't be seen, it'll cause implications later'. What did she mean by that?

Of course Valerie wouldn't know the implications, nor the time at which they would unfold, all she knew was: one, something difficult to fix might happen, and two, said difficult thing could unfold at any time. But with what could she not be seen? Was it her coming and going to the Shrieking Shack, and if they saw her, they could find Sirius?

Although Valerie mentally weighed the option, it didn't seem to be anything extremely bad. Sure, she probably couldn't become an Animagus during her second year, but it's not like she couldn't do it without him. Besides, she got the vibe that the guy had pretty much been annoyes by her, so as soon as they were done, Valerie could go and leave him alone.

She sighed. What else could she not be seen doing? Could it be something her family could hear about that they wouldn't like? But she was still quite obviously friends with Halia, and the redhead hadn't heard anything about the Slytherin from her parents anymore, so that couldn't be it...

She shook her head. (This is taking too long...) She sighed and was able to sneak inside the castle quietly, going along in the flood of students entering the Great Hall, and, as she wasn't able to see any of her friends yet, she sat at the Gryffindor table, still engrossed in her mental discussion.

* * *

><p>"Hey Val!"<p>

Valerie was currently sitting in the library, studying up on her fifth year Transfiguration theory. The redhead turned around and saw her Hufflepuff friend.

"Hi Ammy!"

Amanda walked around the table Valerie was sat at and sat down across from the redhead.

"What're you doing?"

Valerie held the book up for Amanda to see the title. Amanda frowned.

"'Guide to Advanced Transfiguration'? Why are you reading that? Isn't that for N.E.W.T. Students?"

Valerie nodded, put down the book and leaned over the table to whisper in the blonde's ear.

"I'm going to learn how to become an Animagus."

Amanda frowned.

"What's an Animagus?"

Valerie sat back on her chair, opened her book and set it in front of Amanda, pointing at a specific paragraph. After about five minutes, the blonde expressed a bit of shock.

"That's really advanced magic, Val! Don't do it!"

Valerie pulled up one of her eyebrows.

"Why not?"

Amanda looked at Valerie with a worried expression.

"It's dangerous! What if it goes wrong?!"

Valerie smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm able to Transfigure on the level expected of a fourth year already without much of a problem."

Amanda shook her head.

"Don't be so cocky, Val! It could lead to you doing this too quickly and you could get seriously hurt!"

Valerie was a bit shocked.

"But, I'm good at it..."

Amanda nodded.

"You are good at it, but I'd rather have you go slow and end up having a good, new skill, than you going too fast because you're cocky and ending up dead."

Valerie looked at the table, feeling a bit bad. She wás pushing this, wasn't she? She was being far too cocky. She was probably also quite annoying to hear, boasting about her skills...

"I'm sorry, Ammy..."

Amanda raised an eyebrow.

"You shouldn't appologise to me, I didn't do anything."

Valerie sighed.

"You did, though... You made me realise I shouldn't take this too lightly. I'll continue learning some more theory, needed as a base for the big Transfiguration, but I won't do it yet. I'll wait-"

Valerie's eyes flew open in surprise.

(I finally realise! Luna's words!)

Valerie made a note to herself to figure all this out later and she got up.

"Sorry Ammy, but I just realised something. Do you mind if I leave?"

Amanda shook her head.

"No, not at all."

As Valerie walked out of the library, she only had one thing on her mind.

(….Don't be seen, it'll cause implications later...)

* * *

><p><strong>AN<strong>

Valerie is a bit too cocky in this chapter, but **(HALF-SPOILERS!)** it's for future reference ; ) **(SPOILERS ARE OVER!) **I hope it didn't annoy people too much though :s


	24. Chapter 23: Learning

**AN**

Alleykat, you'll just have to see XD Also, just wanted to mention that wolves and dragons are two of my favorite animals as well :p Hope you enjoy!

Also, Julie, I missed you :(

**AN**

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, I'm quitting?!"<p>

Sirius seemed quite angry, stomping back and forth, while Valerie was simply standing by the trapdoor, which would lead outside. She lifted her shoulders.

"I realised that it's dangerous, and I'd better go at a slow pace."

Sirius turned towards Valerie.

"Do you not realise how much time I have put into this?!"

Valerie lifted one of her eyebrows.

"It's not like you had anything else to do anyway, right?"

Sirius scowled at Valerie.

"You're really trying your luck, aren't you?!"

Valerie smirked.

"Maybe I am, who knows? All I'm saying is that I'm just going to take it slow for now. Your time isn't wasted, I still want to become an Animagus. I just wanted to thank you for your time this past half year, and it really helped me. So, thank you."

Sirius frowned and stomped upstairs as Valerie just sighed and walked away, to the castle.

Ever since Amanda talked to Valerie, the redhead realised what Luna meant, at least part of it. Maybe Luna knew that Amanda would talk to the Gryffindor in the library? What Valerie didn't know though, was what Luna meant by later 'implications'. At first, it seemed a little weird, but it was probable that the blonde meant that Valerie should not be seen as an Animagus by Sirius, but how would it cause implications later?

Valerie shook her head with a sigh. She'd probably figure it out sooner or later. Maybe she wouldn't figure it out, ever. In all honesty, she didn't care. She would just spend her time researching some more Animagus facts.

She stopped in place, just in front of the entrance to the castle. Maybe she could talk to Mrs. Malfoy about all this...

Valerie smiled. Maybe that could help a little. At least she'd have an adult's opinion on this matter. Maybe she'd know something about it, or maybe Valerie could just talk to her, letting herself go in rants about her triumphs in Transfigurations and her downfalls in all the other classes.

Valerie sighed and continued walking towards the Great Hall, but, before she could go on with her thoughts, Halia crossed her path. The black-haired girl lifted one of her eyebrows.

"Are you ready now?"

Valerie smiled.

"Yeah, let's go!"

"Alright. Do you have it with you?"

Valerie smirked.

"Of course I have it with me, Hal. Do you?"

Halia nodded with a smirk and pulled her dagger out of her pocket. Valerie grinned at the sight of the weapon and took out the handle of her own weapon from her bag.

"It's nice of him to teach us."

Halia nodded.

"Yeah, it is."

Valerie smirked.

"So, we're just going up to the seventh floor to meet up with Amanda, Luna and him?"

Halia nodded.

"Yeah. I wonder where we're going to practise though. I'm not sure whether there's a good place to train on the seventh floor."

Valerie lifted her shoulders.

"Who knows..."

Halia smirked.

"Apperently he knows."

Valerie smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so."

As they were traveling up the main stairs, all the way to the seventh floor, they were quiet. Both were a bit nervous about their first practise with their weapons, although they were comforted by the fact that Macnair wanted to teach them.

As they finally reached the seventh floor, they walked around, searching for the man, who they found after almost a minute.

"Ah, sir!"

Macnair turned around, smirking at the girls running towards him.

"Your two friends are inside already."

Valerie looked around, but she didn't see any door.

"Inside of where?"

The man grinned and turned around, walking away, but, before Valerie and Halia could follow, he turned around again and walked past the two of them, after which he turned around once more and walked up to the wall, which was now forming a door. Both Valerie and Halia were shocked. Macnair smirked at the two and opened the door, showing them a huge room with loads of training equipment.

"Enter."

Valerie nodded quickly and ran inside, seeing her two friends on a couch to the side, and Valerie went to sit down beside them, putting the bag with her weapon on her lap. Halia joined them only a few seconds later and Macnair entered the room and closed the door. He walked up to the four girls and smirked.

"So, as fate would have it, I need to be at Hogwarts for a job of sorts, and while I'm here, I can help you four understand how to use your weapons."

He took hold of Amanda's spear.

"I'll show you how to hold them." he said, as he enlarged the spear and held it tight to his body. After a second, he ran up to one of the training dummies and pierced it's wooden body with the spear.

After he got back, he took hold of Halia's dagger.

"I'll show you how to use them." As he said this, he threw the dagger into another training dummy, hitting it right in the head.

Now he took hold of Luna's bow.

"I'll show you their art." After this, he stepped back and hit a target on the other side of the room, and gave the bow back to Luna.

Now he took Valerie's Morning Star.

"But most importantly, I'll show you their power!" After almost yelling that, he pulled back with the morning star, ran and hit one of the iron dummies next to them, making Valerie's yaw fall at seeing Macnair completely obliterating the dummy with the Morning Star.

She finally woke up from her amazement when said weapon was pushed into her arms. As as she looked up, she saw Macnair going back to his original position.

"I'll help you all one for one. Valerie, you need to wait until I'm done helping Luna. Halia and Amanda, you can start trying out your weapons against the wooden dummies."

Valerie nodded and stayed where she was, watching both Amanda and Halia grabbing their weapons and trying to mimick Macnair, but failing miserably. Both didn't use enough power to burst through such a thick layer of wood. Halia's dagger stayed in the dummies once every few tries, but it usually fell out after a few seconds. Amanda's spear couldn't even get into one of the dummies, and she was trying very hard poking the wood.

As Valerie looked over to the other side of the room, she saw Macnair showing Luna how she needed to hold her bow and arrow.

Luna shot two times, and although she never even hit the targets, Macnair patted her shoulder and she kept on trying, while he walked over to Valerie.

"Are you ready?"

Valerie got up, left her bag on the couch and held her weapon.

"As ready as ever, I guess..."

Macnair grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't think this is easy, learning how to handle the Morning Star."

Valerie shook her head.

"Don't worry. I won't be cocky for a long time."

Macnair smiled, but cleared his throat and quickly took on a serious expression again as he led Valerie to one of the iron dummies. He cleared his throat once more.

"Hold it like this." he said as he held the shaft of the weapon.

Valerie immitated the positions of his hands and Macnair nodded.

"Alright... Now try hitting one of these dummies."

Valerie exhaled once, before tightening her grip, stepping forwards and banging her Morning Star against the iron dummy, making it shake, but not doing any more damage. Macnair put a hand on Valerie's shoulder.

"Look at your weapon. You should try hitting with one of the spikes first, so you're sure you did at least some damage."

Valerie nodded, looked at her weapon, adjusted her hands a little bit and hit the iron dummy as hard as she could. This resulted in a dent in its shoulder, mixed with a smaller hole in the middle of the dent and a couple of deep scratches in its sides. Macnair smiled.

"You got the basics down!"

Valerie looked up at the man.

"Any more tips?"

Macnair shook his head.

"You should figure the rest out yourself. Getting the basics down is easy, becoming a master in these arts is one of the hardest things you'll ever do."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." sounded through the room, coming from Luna, who, while seemingly having responded to Macnair, kept her back turned to them and kept practising using the bow and arrow. Macnair lifted one of his eyebrows.

"Is she always like that?"

Valerie frowned.

"Is that a problem?"

Macnair quickly shook his head.

"Listen, I'm going to have to show your two other friends how to use their weapons. Keep practising, 'kay?"

Valerie nodded and tightened her grip once more, and as she slammed her weapon against the iron dummy, she only thought of one thing:

(I wonder what's going to happen)

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mrs. Malfoy,<em>

_I just wanted to inform you of my recent activities. Today, I was taught the basics of using weaponry (outside of the school curriculum). I myself use a Morning Star, which, while not very lady-like, is extremely strong. I'm already able to make dents in iron._

_Second thing, but more importantly, this year I've been studying up on my Transfigurations. I'm trying to become an Animagus. I'm well aware of the risks, but I was wondering what you think of this. What would you advise me to do? Do you have any recommendations on certain books?_

_I hope you're having a good day by the way,_

_V._


	25. Chapter 24: Figuring out

**AN**

Julie, wow, good luck! I'll be mentally cheering for you! Hope you'll enjoy! (Also, I personally love everything you said as well, and knowing my outline of the story, it only makes it better) :D

Alleykat, haha, that would be interesting! Also, with the whole weapon-thing, Valerie has six brothers, so she should have some strength, although she probably has some aches XD Hope you'll enjoy!

**AN**

* * *

><p><em>Valerie,<em>

_Firstly, you can use your first name without a problem. It's been used by purebloods for centuries, so if someone intercepts, they won't thnk much of it._

_Secondly, what are you thinking? Using weapons, especially one that is as rough as a morning star? Isn't that making you a blood traitor, for using such muggle objects? Do your parents even know?  
><em>

_I'm probably not looking at the big picture, so please excuse my rudeness, although I would like an explanation._

_Also, you're becoming an Animagus? It's been done before at your age, but it's still not very common to see a twelve-year old going for something as ambitious as that. It's very... Slytherin... if I do say so myself._

_Any books I recommend? I'll send a few books from the Malfoy library, but please send them back soon. I don't want my husband knowing I'm sending valuable books to a Weasley. _

_Also, yes, I am having a good day, thank you. How are you doing?_

_N.M._

* * *

><p>Valerie had gotten the letter during breakfast, packed with a total of six books on Animagi, about who they were, what they became, some unknown Animagi, records on Transfigurations, how to become an Animagus, the accidents in becoming an Animagus and finally how to make sure nothing bad happens to you when becoming an Animagus.<p>

She quickly excused herself to her friends and ran up to her dorm to start reading. (Well, as fast as I could run after the tiring practice yesterday, anyway...)

Entering her dorm, she jumped onto her bed, closed the curtains around it and transfigured the curtains into a thin wall of iron, making it so nobody would be able to enter into her private space.

When she was satisfied with her wand work, she opened one of the books and browsed through it. It was a book telling her who had become an Animagus in what year, at how old and what they became. It also noted whether said person had been a legal or illegal Animagus, and whether or not they had accidents in their Animagus form.

Closing that book, as Valerie thought she might not need that right this second, although she could have fun looking through it just before bedtime, she picked up the second one: 'My wolf and me' by Jayme Cosgrove. It looked quite old, and Valerie browsed through this book, just like the one before. It seemed like this was an autobiography, describing the man's life with his Animagus-form.

Valerie put it to the side, it might be interesting to read later on, and started browsing through a third book. The title was faded, and Valerie could only make out a few scribbles for the name of the author, but the insides were perfectly preserved. It described how to become an Animagus, what you'd need to know and have beforehand etcetera.

The fourth book Valerie looked in was a book on how to utilize different forms, from sneaking through small pipes as a spider and scaring people as a crocodile, to storming into battle as a dragon and how to let the time fly by as a Hippogriff. As Valerie read a few paragraphs, she smiled. She would definitely read that book.

As she took hold of the fifth book, she read: '136 things to make sure of beforehand' by Oberius Quizner. It was a book telling of all the things you could do or prepare before trying to become an Animagus, so you wouldn't have any accidents.

As Valerie put that book to the side, she looked at the last one, which, again, didn't have a title, but it told of the exact process going on when you became an Animagus, and what was the best way to do it.

As the redhead picked up the fifth book, '136 things to make sure of beforehand' by Oberius Quizner, she started reading.

* * *

><p>"Oh dear, Val, you look tired..."<p>

The redhead was almost using her breakfast as a pillow. It was now exactly a week since she got the set of books from Mrs. Malfoy, and Valerie used every opportunity she got to continue reading, although that usually meant that she would be going to sleep very late. She was already completely done with two of the books, looking though the huge archive on every Animagus every so often, and she was going to start on the autobiography tonight.

"I'm sorry Ammy, I've been staying up far too long this past week..."

Amanda showed a concerned smile.

"You should go to sleep early on tonight."

Valerie sighed.

"I know I should, but I probably won't."

Amanda sighed as well.

"Well, just don't let your grades slip."

Valerie smirked tiredly.

"Sure mom."

Amanda smiled and wandered off to Potions class, leaving Valerie to get to Herbology by herself, which she had with Halia, but the black-haired girl was nowhere to be seen. The redhead lifted her shoulders and walked out of the Great Hall, wondering whether or not Halia would be there.

* * *

><p>A little less from three weeks from then, Valerie was done with reading through her books, because of which she had a lack of sleep and had actually been ill the previous day. She'd slept the whole day, skipping breakfast and lunch, although she did appear during dinner, filling the black hole that was her stomach to the brim with food and going to her dorm to fall asleep again.<p>

Today though, she was fine again. The redhead read through the notes that she had made while reading through the books, and when the Gryffindor was satisfied, she put them in her bag. She also grabbed her wand, and went down to the Great Hall.

"Ah, Val!"

Valerie looked towards the voice and saw Amanda waving at the Hufflepuff table, where Halia and Luna were also already sitting. Valerie walked over to them.

"Hey guys!"

Amanda smiled brightly.

"You're ready?"

Valerie nodded, while her heart already started pounding harder at the thought of what she was going to do in about an hour.

"I think I am."

Luna smiled and nodded, which greatly relieved Valerie.

The four quickly finished their breakfast and walked out of the Great Hall, going up the main staircase, all the way to the seventh floor. They walked in front of the wall, where they were before with Macnair, three times and a door appeared.

The girls entered the Room of Requirements, which was beautifully decorated with all kinds of things to satisfy the needs of all kinds of animals. A small pool for snakes, crocodiles, fish, etcetera. A few climbable trees, enough space for a big bird to fly around in, or for a dragon to walk through, and more heat on one side of the room than the other, making it perfect for just about any animal.

"You know, I'm really loving this room right now..."

Halia lifted an eyebrow.

"Of course you would. You're becoming an animal, you should like this room."

Valerie shook her head.

"Not neccisarily thís specific room, but the Room of Requirements in general."

Halia did a quick 'oh' and walked towards the middle of the room.

"Well, you starting or what?"

Valerie nodded and walked into the middle of the room, while Luna pulled her two friends back. When the blonde nodded, Valerie sighed, but held up her wand.

"Fieri Animali!"

As she yelled these words, she felt her skin aching, felt herself rising and started getting a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of her. She looked around and saw her friends a bit up from where her own pair of eyes were.

"What am I?"

She tried to ask, but her friends just looked a bit shocked. She herself was shocked when, instead of words coming out, she hissed.

(A... a snake?)

She tried to look at herself, but all she could see was a tail that she wasn't in control of and a huge body she wasn't familiar with.

As she looked back to her friends, she saw Luna approaching with a smile.

"Haven't you become a beautiful snake, Valerie?"

"Can you turn back?"

Valerie thought back to what was described in the books she'd read and thought real hard on the name of the spell 'Fieri Humani'.

As she opened her eyes, she saw she was at her normal heights again, even though she was still lying on the ground, and she smiled.

"I think that went good."

Luna sat down next to her and stroked her hair.

"You did good."


	26. Chapter 25: So?

**AN**

Julie, it'll work slightly different, you'll see. Also, I'm still cheering you on. Tell me when I can stop fistpumping, clapping and whoohooing when I'm alone, could you? XD Hope you'll enjoy :D

**AN**

* * *

><p>Valerie was completely stunned. She'd just turned into a snake! She knew that she would've gotten into Slytherin if not for her family, but still... A snake was the best way to represent her soul?!<p>

As these thoughts came to her, she quickly got up and ran. She ran out of the Room of Requirements, she ran down the stairs, through the main gate and away from the castle. She kept running, past the groundkeeper's hut, through trees and bushes, finally calming down after realising she was surrounded by darkness.

Her family couldn't figure out. They would most definitly disown her, and where would she go then? She couldn't stay at one of her friend's places until she would be of legal age, she would feel so bad for dumping herself onto their doorstep. No, she'd have to stay with the Weasleys for four and a half year...

Valerie sighed. She had no idea where she came from at this point, and even less of an idea of where she was going. At least she was alone for a while. While she felt very bad for her friends about her just storming out, she needed to do it. She needed to get everything in her head settled down.

As she kept walking, she eventually found a small lake. It would have seemed quite peaceful, if it hadn't been as dark as it was. Valerie could make out a few big rocks, and she went over to the one that was partially in the water and sat on it.

After getting a bit comfortable on said rock, she stuck her hand into the water, which was surprisingly warm. (… Oh, why not...) With a 'heck to it all'- mindset, Valerie took off her shoes and socks and let her feet slowly sink in the water.

"That feels nice..."

"I'd say sso too..."

Valerie looked around her, searching for any person who could've responded to her. When she couldn't see anyone, she asked:

"Where are you?"

"Down here, little ssnakeling..."

As Valerie looked down to where her feet were still in the warm water of the lake, she saw the head of a snake pop out, just a few feet away. Valerie janked her feet out of the lake and hugged her knees to her body in shock.

"How- Why can you talk? How can I hear you? You're an animal!"

The snake slowly slythered out of the lake, showing a brownish body of an estimated three feet.

"Silly human. You probably have the ability to speak parsseltongue."

Valerie shook her head vigorously.

"No, no, I probably don't."

The snake came crawling towards her and Valerie almost jumped off the rock, if it hadn't been for the snake staying at a distance.

"Well, you don't sspeak like a snake, I suppose..."

Valerie gave a confused expression.

"What do you mean, I don't speak like a snake?"

The snake looked Valerie in the eyes.

"If a normal human were to come here, they'd think you're talking to yoursselff. You don't hiss."

Valerie's hold on her knees weakened slightly.

"So, if I don't actually speak Parseltongue, why can I understand what you're saying?"

The snake came a little closer and stuck out its tongue a few times.

"I can smell a snake on you..."

Valerie lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"You can... taste... smells like that?"

The snake came even closer, now at the foot of the rock.

"Yess, little snakeling, but tell me: Do you have a connection to snakes in some way?"

Valerie shifted awkwardly.

"Well, I am an Animagus with a snake form. Only just found out today though."

The snake looked at Valerie's whole body.

"That might explain a bit."

Valerie now put her bare feet on the ground before her as she talked to the snake.

"What explains what?"

The snake crawled up Valerie's legs, which got Valerie lauging.

"You're tickly!"

The snake seemed to have difficulty with crawling up the legs, because Valerie was trembling so much from her laughter, but it was eventually able to get up to her lap.

"You could've made that less difficult."

Valerie pouted.

"You could've made it less tickly."

The snake gave Valerie some kind of headbutt.

"Let's get back to our discussion: You being an Animagus."

Valerie nodded, as the snake continued:

"As far as I know, most Animagi can 'communicate' with other animals."

Valerie nodded again, this time with a puzzled expression.

"You say it as if it's not actually true."

The snake shook its head.

"No, it is true, although most animals don't have the capacity to think or turn their thoughts into words. Snakes can speak though."

Valerie looked puzzled.

"But that still doesn't completely explain why I can hear you, but can't communicate back."

The snake yawned.

"It does, though. You can understand us because you're partially snake. You can't speak like us because you don't have the vocal capability that you can gain from birth. I think you might be able to speak as a snake in your Animagus form though."

Valerie tilted her head slightly in a curious manner.

"So you want me to turn into my Animagus form?"

The snake seemed to nod, and Valerie picked the little guy up, put him at her feet and took hold of her wand.

"Fieri Animali!"

As she felt the same itchiness as before, she saw her vision lowering and fading slightly. As she looked around, she saw the snake she had been talking to almost right in front of her face and, while she would've jumped back as a human, she had no real idea on how to properly move her long, slythery body. All she could do was look into the other snake's eyes, so she didn't make a fool out of herself.

"So?"

The other snake just lifted its head and looked at Valerie's current body.

"Interesting."

Valerie was confused by the snake's statement.

"What do you mean?"

The snake crawled back a little bit, but kept its head high.

"You're a corn snake, but not just a normal one. You're a blood red one."

Valerie slowly and gently lifted her head, not knowing how far she could go, but wanting to match the other snake.

"So, does that mean I'm powerful?"

The snake shook its head.

"No, corn snakes are very docile, and not at all poisonous."

Valerie slowly let her head fall back onto the ground.

"Well, that's just fantastic..."

The snake lowered its head and crawled over a bit of Valerie's body.

"Look at it this way, you are one of the few Animagi that can properly communicate with an animal. Besides, you have a pretty slender body as well."

Valerie would've raised an eyebrow if she'd had one.

"What does that accomplish?"

The snake's head pushed up against Valerie's head from the side.

"You could get into and through almost anything. Great way to hide from enemies, sneak into a room and such. Besides, are you so unhappy with being a snake?"

Valerie shook her head.

"Not really, I guess. It takes some time to get used to, but I guess it could've always been worse, huh?"

The snake nodded its head.

"At least you can become a human as well. I'm stuck here, you know, with no one."

Valerie nudged against the snake's head.

"I'll come over every so often then. What's your name anyway?"

The snake looked at Valerie.

"... Xander."

Valerie would've smiled if she were a human (Sheesh, I'm not able to express emotions as a snake, am I?!).

"Also, am I speaking Parseltongue when I'm like this?"

Xander stared at Valerie.

"What do you think that you've been talking to me with? Your tail?"

Valerie quickly shook her head and thanked god for the fact that she was a snake, because, if she would've been a human, her head would go as red as her hair.

"I think I should go, it feels like it's getting late."

Xander nudged against Valerie's body.

"You mean you're hungry."

Valerie nodded.

"Yeah."

The snake crawled off of Valerie and slythered away a little bit.

"Then go. I'll see you later."

Valerie nodded and slythered away, finding out that she could smell where she came from, and following that path. The first few feet were quite difficult for Valerie to get a pattern down on how to get forwards, but after about a minute she practically flew through the Forbidden Forest.

Once she saw the end of the forest, she crawled back a little and turned back into her human form. Like that, she walked out of the forest, being hungry and quite tired. She decided to go the the Great Hall for a quick dinner before falling into her bed.

Just in front of the entrance however, she found Luna.

"How did it go?"

Valerie nodded and smiled confidently, not at all wondering why Luna was waiting there.

"Good."

Both her and Luna went inside the castle as Valerie was thinking of Xander the snake and of how she would love to go back there again.

* * *

><p><em>Mrs. Malfoy,<em>

_Firstly, I thank you for letting me read through such brilliant books. They truly helped me, so thank you._

_Secondly, I'd like to inform you that I have accomplished becoming an Animagus. I'm a snake! Apperently a corn snake with a slightly unusual coloring scheme. I'm pretty excited for that, although my family isn't allowed to know. They'd disown me, and I can't let that happen just yet..._

_I'm doing well! (As you have probably figured out by now) Hope you are as well,_

_Valerie_


	27. Chapter 26: What would it be?

**AN**

Julie, I'm good at making people curious... jk, but hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Also, I'm really late this time, but I've got a ton of excuses, from my snake finishing his shed to just not being in the right mood... lol. Sorry for it!

**AN**

* * *

><p>"It's actually kind of weird, you know?"<p>

At Valerie's comment, Amanda nodded.

"I guess it would be."

Amanda and Valerie were currently walking to the library to get some homework done before the weekend would begin.

"I mean, whenever I change and I want to move, I have to really think about what muscles to move, because I won't go forwards if I try stretching my legs or something."

Amanda nodded, thinking about Valerie's Animagus form. Before she could respond however, Luna skipped up to the two of them.

"Valerie, why don't you spend your evening hunting down your prey?"

Valerie simply just stood there in response, not even completely registering what Luna had just said so suddenly.

"I should do what?"

Luna smiled slightly.

"Hunt down your prey, Val. You'll have a good advantage if you do."

Valerie pulled up one of her eyebrows.

"When would I gain any advantage?"

Luna lifted her shoulders.

"Depends on how you look at it."

At this, Luna skipped past Amanda and Valerie, seemingly content with what she'd just said. Valerie looked at Amanda.

"Do you know what she meant?"

Amanda lifted her shoulders.

"I've got no idea. Maybe you can find something in the library while we're there."

Valerie nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so."

* * *

><p>"Have you found anything?"<p>

Valerie shook her head at Amanda's question and kept searching through random books. Amanda sighed.

"I'm not sure that you'll find anything in there anymore, Val. You should just sit down and think about it."

At this, Valerie sighed and sat down opposite of Amanda.

"I just have no idea what Luna means some of the time."

Amanda scribbled down something on the parchment in front of her.

"You've figured things out before, so why wouldn't you now? Besides, why would Luna say such things if she didn't know whether you could decipher it?"

Valerie leant her head on the table.

"I guess you're right, Ammy. I just don't know where to start..."

"Where to start with what?"

Valerie looked up and saw Halia putting some books on the table and sitting down diagonally from the redhead.

"Where did you come from so suddenly?"

Halia opened one of her books and made sure she was on the right page before answering.

"I want to get some homework done. Besides, you're changing the topic. What were you talking about?"

Valerie sighed.

"Something Luna said. She told me that 'I should hunt down my prey' and that I'll get a 'good advantage if I do'."

Halia took out a piece of parchment and wrote something down.

"Alright, so, were you doing anything at the time when she told you?"

Valerie smiled.

"You sound like an Auror interrogating. And yes, I was discussing the differences between my human and Animagus forms with Amanda."

Halia nodded.

"That might mean that the 'hunting' part could reference your Animagus form..."

Valerie nodded with a thoughtful look.

"So, the prey...?"

Halia smirked.

"What have you ever found that's as irresistible to you as food is to a snake?"

Valerie thought very hard, the wheels of her mind turning, until she thought of something.

"... The diary..."

Halia nodded.

"You got it."

Valerie nodded with a smile.

"Well then, it seems that I've suddenly got plans for this evening..."

* * *

><p>As Valerie said goodnight to her friends and left the Great Hall, searching for a place to change into her Animagus form. She eventually decided to go into one of the stalls in the girls' bathroom on the seventh floor, only a few corridors away from Valerie's Common Room.<p>

After entering one of the stalls, she transformed into her snake form and slythered onto the toilet and into a pipe on the wall. She had no idea where she was going, but if she just wouldn't go down anywhere, she was pretty certain she would at least come up somewhere in one of the towers. As Luna said, this was hunting, and if her prey wasn't in the one place, she'd have to check another.

Coming up to an opening in the pipe, Valerie poked out her head and looked around the place where she ended up. (Lucky!) Valerie found herself in an opening to Dumbledore's office, not seeing the old man anywhere. However, she wasn't taking any chances. She slowly crawled out of the pipe in the wall, lowering herself onto some kind of bookcase.

From there, she slythered down that bookcase on the backside, so even if Dumbledore would come in, he wouldn't be able to see her. After making sure she wouldn't be visible, she slowly crawled in the shadows, staying alert.

(Damn, I should've searched for a possible place for that diary...) She had no idea where to get it now, as it wasn't just randomly lying around... She should've expected that. The old Headmaster wouldn't just leave something like that anywhere in view... This meant it should definitely be worth the trouble, right? It seemed valuable..

Valerie saw a crack in the backside of one of the drawers in the office, and she went in. Some kinds of books, nothing particularly amazing. A picture of some man, but it was too dark, and Valerie's eyes weren't that good in her current form, so she wasn't able to make out how he looked. Crawling up to the next drawer, she didn't find anything interesting either.

(… This will take forever, won't it?) Trying to sigh, which wouldn't work, because she was a snake, she went into another drawer. Again, nothing fantastic. Before she left however, something caught her eye. One of the large books was shoved into another large book. While it might be nothing more than that, Valerie felt that certain pull again. That same pull when... when she and the diary had that connection! She crawled over to the books, pushing her head between them and pushing them up. It took a great amount of effort, but she was able to see the small, dark, stabbed book that she seemed so attracted to.

She bit down on the small book, pulling it out of the grip of the two larger books and taking it out of the drawers. Just when she was about to climb up the bookcase where she could get into the pipe through which she came here, footsteps could be heard.

(...Of course my luck had to run out right now of all times...) Valerie stayed where she was, in the shadows, where she could sense where Dumbledore was, but where he had almost no chance to find the girl. She could hear him wandering through his office, probably searching for something. After she heard a soft 'Oh, there you are', he walked away again, and Valerie climbed up the bookcase. She stuck her head out slightly first, and not seeing anyone, she crawled on top of the bookcase completely, diary still in her mouth.

Looking around for the last time, she pushed the diary in the pipe she came from and went in as well, thanking the gods that the pipes were this wide around school. While she wouldn't have fitted as a human, she had no problem with hauling the small diary in her mouth around the place.

Finally reappearing at the toilet she came from, she trasformed back into her human form, put the small diary in her pocket and ran to her dormitory, as curfew had passed by some time ago. Luckily, it was Friday night, and Valerie could sleep in as long as she'd like tomorrow.

She'd need to figure out why she felt so atracted to this little diary as well, and what its importance was. But all that could wait for now, as she saw her bed, she saw how inviting it looked.

In the end, Valerie pushed the diary under her pillow and slept with it through the night.

* * *

><p><em>Valerie,<em>

_I'm very pleased to hear about you getting rewarded after putting so much effort into becoming an Animagus. I'm especially pleased about your from being a snake. It just gives me another reason to speak to you like this. Not that I didn't have any reason to do so before._

_Besides, I'm very glad you're willing to talk to me. Particularly, when your family wouldn't like it. Also, you're welcome to stay here if anything does happen between you and your family. I'm keeping these letters so I'll be able to persuade Lucius if it's ever neccisary._

_I'm looking forward to hearing from you again,_

_N.M._


End file.
